In late 1992, Bauval had been trying to obtain a translation of Hermetica by Walter Scott. He then came across a new edition printed by Solo Press with a foreword by Adrian Gilbert.[1] Bauval contacted Gilbert after being interested in his foreword concerning a link between an Alexandrine school of Hermes Trismegistus and the pyramid builders of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt. They went on to write The Orion Mystery together, which became an international bestseller.[2] BBC Two broadcast a documentary on Bauval's theories around the time of the book's publication.[3] He has co-authored three books with Graham Hancock,including 2004's Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith in which the two put forward what sociologist of religion David V. Barrettin a review in The Independent described Talisman as a factually incorrect and unconvincing "mess of a book" based upon indiscriminate use of source material culminating by "promulgating a version of the old Jewish-Masonic plot so beloved by ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorists.[4]