Report of the Committee Appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to Translate the Inscription on the Rosetta Stone. [

[Morton, Henry, Charles Reuben Hale, and S. Huntington Jones]

Published by Rosenthal, Philadelphia, 1858

About this Item

[Morton, Henry (1836-1902); Charles Reuben Hale (1837-1900); S. Huntington Jones]. Report of the committee appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to translate the inscription on the Rosetta Stone. Lithographed text and illustrations. [4], 136, [24]pp., with the usual errors in pagination: [4]-72, 81-128, 113-120, 129-136, [24]. 5 chromolithographed plates; text illustrations. [Philadelphia: L. N. Rosenthal, 1858.] 225 x 187 mm. Original beveled decorative paper boards, rebacked preserving remains of original spine, some rubbing and wear; preserved in a cloth folding box. Endpapers and flyleaves foxed as usual, some dampstaining on a few leaves, minor foxing and offsetting, small loss of upper corner of one leaf, but very good. First Edition of the first complete translation of the Rosetta Stone, and one of the most famous American lithographed books of the 19th century. The translation was the work of three undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania, all members of the University s Philomathean Society; Hale undertook to transcribe and translate the Greek and Demotic texts, Jones produced the historical introduction, and Morton supplied the hieroglyphic inscriptions, drawings, and other illustrations. The entire book was lithographed, presumably to better represent the Rosetta Stone s hieroglyphic and demotic texts; it "provided the basis for a notable display of chromolithographic book illustration by the Philadelphia lithographer, Louis Rosenthal [who] . . . created hundreds of crude but exuberant chromolithographs intermingled with the text, showing scenes from Egyptian life or elaborate borders in quasi-Egyptian motifs." (Reese, Stamped with a National Character, p. 99). The first edition, issued in an edition of 400 copies, sold out almost immediately, and was internationally hailed as a monumental work of scholarship. For an explanation of the book s pagination errors see R. Adams, "The Rosetta Stone," in Bibliographical Essays: A Tribute to Wilberforce Eames (1924): 227-240. Bennett, American Color Plate Books, p. 93. .

Seller Inventory # 42894

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Report of the Committee Appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to Translate the Inscription on the Rosetta Stone. [
• Publisher: Rosenthal, Philadelphia
• Publication Date: 1858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition