William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney
Collector
Collector
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Tyssen\-Amherst is chiefly remembered as a collector of books, manuscripts, antique furniture and other works of art. He became famous for his Egyptian collection. In his country home, [Didlington](/wiki/Didlington "Didlington") Hall, he built a museum for his rapidly growing Egyptian collection. In 1906, he was forced to sell a large portion of his collection after discovering that his estate and certain trust funds had been entirely dissipated at the hands of an untrustworthy solicitor, Charles Cheston, under whose management they had been placed. He lived only six weeks following the first [Sotheby's](/wiki/Sotheby%27s "Sotheby's") auction from this collection.

[thumb](/wiki/File:Lord_Amherst%27s_book_plate.jpg "Lord Amherst's book plate.jpg")

His name is noted at the Carter gallery display in the [Swaffham Museum](/wiki/Swaffham_Museum "Swaffham Museum") in Norfolk, suggesting that Tyssen\-Amherst's collection of ancient papyri and Egyptian figures was seen by a young [Howard Carter](/wiki/Howard_Carter "Howard Carter"). The Museum records reveal that in 1882 he exhibited six "life size Egyptian figures" at Swaffham assembly rooms. A copy of the catalogue describes the figures he exhibited which included a figure of a Bedouin chief. He also exhibited a [Thutmose III](/wiki/Thutmose_III "Thutmose III") brick circa 1330bc, excavated from the banks of the Nile.Swaffham Fine Art Exhibition Official Catalogue, J Jenvey Pricehon.sec 1882 Amherst's collection included the lower section of a [20th Dynasty](/wiki/20th_Dynasty "20th Dynasty") tomb robbery papyri otherwise described as the [Papyrus Leopold II](/wiki/Papyrus_Leopold_II "Papyrus Leopold II"), which is in the possession of the [Morgan Library \& Museum](/wiki/Morgan_Library_%26_Museum "Morgan Library & Museum"), New York.

His rare book collection included the "only genuine perfect copy known" of *[Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye](/wiki/Recuyell_of_the_Historyes_of_Troye "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye")*, King Charles I's personal copy of the Cambridge Bible, and a [Gutenberg Bible](/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible "Gutenberg Bible") (No. 45\).


What kind of collection did Tyssen-Amherst have?