Robert (Robin) Allason Furness (1883-1954) was born in England and studied at Cambridge (King’s College), where he met E. M. Forster. He worked as a civil servant in Egypt (1906-1923, deputy director of censorship, director of imports and exports, financial consultant, etc.). He taught English at the Fuad I University of Cairo (1936-1944), while from 1945 to 1950 he worked for the British Council, also in Egypt. In 1931 he published his translation work (Translations from the Greek Anthology and Poems of Callimachus).