With the appearance of this volume, the Oriental Institute marks the true completion of the Egyptian Coffin Texts Project, an international cooperative program begun by James Henry Breasted and Alan H Gardiner in 1922 and edited by Adriaan de Buck from 1935 until his death in 1959. It is hoped that the new edition stimulates discussion not only of the longevity of the Pyramid Texts, but of the nature of the Coffin Texts themselves. While Breasted insisted that the Pyramid Texts were 'sharply distinguished' from the Coffin Texts, the frequent appearance of 'Pyramid Texts' on coffins (among the narrowly defined 'Coffin Texts') leaves this opinion open to question. Ironically, the one coffin acquired in Chicago by Breasted for study by the Coffin Texts Project (OIM 12072) contained only 'Pyramid Texts' and was therefore excluded from the initial seven volumes. Now at last these Middle Kingdom texts on a coffin can be examined among the 'Coffin Texts.