Théodule Devéria help Mariette read inscriptions in Cairo and its surroundings. He tried to accurately document the archaeological sites using drawings, stampings and photographs. His calotype pictures from this trip are often poor in quality, showing a lack of technical skills. In 1860 he was appointed preserving assistant at the Louvre's Department of Egyptology. He revisited Egypt in 1861–62, traveling up the Nile to Philae at the First Cataract, and into Nubia to the Abu Simbel temples. After returning he helped Mariette prepare descriptions of the excavation in Egypt in 1850–54 for publication. In November 1864 Devéria met the future oriental scholar
Mirza Abu Taleb Khan asserts that it is possible to read Abu Taleb's book as a series of comparisons praising the virtues of the east above the west: "the Muslims of Cape Town are kind and superior; the savages of Andaman are preferable to his European shipmates; Oxford is almost like the ancient Indian temples; the Quazis are superior to the English jury system – which is frightening and often prone to mistakes ... Abu Taleb praises the English 'equality of all' before the law and yet proceeds to suggest that this 'equality is more in appearance than in reality'. He attacks the British