(by Cristiana Missori) (ANSAmed) - CAIRO - Already in the '50s, Egyptologists like Jean Yoyotte, Serge Sauneron, and Sergio Donadoni were going to the old Sharia bookstore Kasrl El-Nil, just a few steps away from the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Today the top international names in Egyptology and others continue to visit the narrow and overflowing rooms of the Orientaliste. It is not a rare occurrence to run into Edda Bresciani, an Italian Egyptologist, who participated in digs in Medinet Madi, in Fayoum, intent on digging up the image of an impossible-to-find protome of a lion, or Luisa Bongrani, the first scholar in the world to found a professorship in Nubian Antiquities. 'Au Bouquiniste Oriental' was the name given in 1936 by Feldman, an Egyptian Jew, to this place, which was considered by researchers and collectors to be a precious mine of rare or untracable documents: reports from archaeological digs, written accounts and maps about tomb and temple findings in Egypt dating back to the early 1900s, but also volumes on Coptic, medieval and modern Egypt, which were accumulated slowly but surely by the three owners of the bookstore. Over 50,000 volumes in all, only partly catalogued and scattered everywhere on bookshelves, in the basement storage room, the second floor; thousands of prints and engravings done by English, German, and French orientalists (including the famed David Roberts) who in the 19th century travelled throughout Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon. Hundreds of maps, some of which date back to halfway through the 16th century, and dozens and dozens of old cards and photographs dating back to the early 1900s, stacked in random piles. ''In 1956, Feldman, like all of the foreigners who lived in Egypt at the time, including Italians, French, Greeks, and Armenians, had to flee the country,'' said the current owner of L'Orientaliste, Nagwa Kamy, an affable woman who has been running the shop since 1989. ''Continuing with this passion,'' she added, ''was Feldman's assistant, a Coptic named Bahari who cleverly bought up entire libraries and prints from foreigners who were in a hurry to leave the country.'' Many books that Bahari found were first editions by French, Italian, German, and English scholars, explained Ms. Kamy. ''The westerners who were living here at the time were educated, had refined tastes, and many had ample time to dedicate to literature.'' Some copies of manuscripts have covers with plates used by the engravers to produce illustrations. ''Tiny masterpieces that have to be understood to be appreciated.,'' said the owner. ''Today,'' she said, ''it is not easy to find a discerning public. In 20 years, this market has also changed. There are more dealers and very few connoisseurs, even among collectors.'' Now, like then, visiting the bookstore are mainly foreigners who live in Egypt. Very few Egyptians. ''Ambassadors and members of their delegations are mainly are most prized clients. Ministers also enjoy stopping here,'' concluded Kamy. The most recent visitor was Italy's Minister of Economic Development, Claudio Scajola, who just a new days ago bought a valuable print. (ANSAmed).