Egypt.- Hieroglyphs.- Champollion (Jean Francois) Grammaire Égyptienne, first edition, lithographed hieroglyphs throughout, some printed in red, a few in colours, occasional offsetting, original printed wrappers, upper and lower covers backed with a few repairs and some restoration to extremities, rebacked, some marking and toning to covers, folio, Paris, Firmin Didot Fréres, 1836[-1841].

⁂ This monumental work of Champollion (1790-1832), known above all as the decipherer of the Rosetta stone, is the grand summation of his work in cracking Egyptian hieroglyphs and laid the foundations for all subsequent discoveries in Egyptology. It contains the first printed list of hieroglyphs; 260 in all. The printing, from Champollion's meticulous manuscript, was a complex process. It required a special combination of all the standard alphabetic languages (French, Latin, Greek, Coptic, etc.) to be set in the usual way in type, leaving blank spaces for the hieroglyphs. The typesetting was then transferred to lithographic plates where the hieroglyphs were engraved and then each page, including type and hieroglyphs, was reprinted lithographically. This was the first time such a technique was used in France. Rare in the original printed wrappers.