Here's some vital info for all who might not be aware of this VERY worthy cause. I had the rare privilege of visting the tomb and placing flowers on it the year after it was last restored. Time to pitch in and bring some sparkle back to the resting place of the great man.

http://www.burtonfund.org/pages/burton.htm

I was privileged enough to be at the first official restoration's unveiling in about 1975, along with Keynes et al, having provided a small detail to help with the accuracy of the restoration. I have a photo of the junket somewhere. On the anniversary of Burton's death, I returned to Richmond to place flowers on the tomb and was sorry to see they were the sole tribute there. Personally, I was always uneasy at the idea of creating a peephole in the rear of the tomb. Similarly, I found the parading of Burton's cane from the tomb during the 'opening' distasteful. (Can a tomb have an 'opening'? Anyway, you know what I mean!) I assume this to have been the cane on which Burton leans in one of the final photos made of him, in Trieste. While living outside Trieste in the 1990s, I traced the Burton's last home, a sad shell then, a fire-damaged former hotel. I wonder what has become of it, with its garden of bonfire notoriety. Now I am in Damascus, trying to find their three homes here. The first, Beit Nizam, is easy, but the other two? Any ideas? See the Burton Noticeboard. Regards.

i'm reliably told thast one of burtons homes in damascus was demolished just a few years ago.
i live in jerusalemand i was recently staying with a group of shias pilgrims whio had traveled here, indirectly because lof the opolitical situation, and they confirmed this report to me.

What has happened to this project? I wrote in asking what exactly was planned with the money collected (because that wasn't mentioned in the web page) and got no answer.

I'm curious, too, about the fate of this worthwhile endeavour. I have only been to Burton's tomb once (in 1994)and to me it looked then as it does in the photos found on the website (I also got no answer about the fund).

Also, was the recent facsimile of the bayonet book connected to this same fundraising project? I don't have my copy of the facsimile handy at the moment so I'm not sure about this.

My understanding is that several well-known booksellers fronted some modest sums and became Sponsors of this project. The founder, Bernhard Lauser, seems to have made himself pretty inaccessible to interested parties and several people have written to me saying that their questions are not answered. The impression given is that the project has simply fizzled out and, if this impression is wrong, Bernhard ought to get his act together and answer a few obvious questions, like: "Just what have you done so far, what are you doing now, and what do you plan to do?"

This discussion board would be an ideal forum - you there, Bernard?