Ok Katherine, I yield to your far more detailed knowledge.

I am often guilty of phrasing myself poorly; my apologies.

But I still state Budge packaged Ancient Egypt for the masses. He was more PT Barnum than studied Doctor of Egyptology, I grant you. But since the late 1880s he has caught the public's eye with his, quite often (agreed) garbage.

He was a very early part of cultivating a fascination with AE in my humble imagination.

Have I turned from him years past as mostly garbage and showman, well... yes.

But he DID start the show... not only for me, but for the average working Joe (or Willie) in England of the 1880s. Who can say what funding would or would not have come down the pipe without that early fascination?
Surly you do not claim he did nothing to publicize or promote the AE early on?

Jammer