There are many books that discuss the coins from specific periods of Egyptian history, but there are none that consider the coins from the whole of that history. This work aims to provide such an account, covering the currency from ancient times through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, and Ottoman periods to modern times.

An important feature of the work is the illustration of a selection of about 150 coins and banknotes that represent the major types throughout that history. Adjunct to this selection of these illustrations is a "key" that provides further numismatic detail about each of the coins in it.

A difficulty with Egyptian coinage is that it includes inscriptions in many languages. Some notes in the key to the coins and in the appendices are provided to give a little help in this.

In addition to providing a chronological account of the currency, the coins and notes are related to aspects of the daily lives of the people of each period and also to some aspects of the development of the state, particularly its architecture.