Hierogplyphs.- Kircher (Athanasius) Prodromus Coptus sive Aegyptiacus, first edition, issue with Francesco Barberini's (the dedicatee's) coat-of-arms to title, woodcut illustrations, with Ad lectorem leaf (signed Vv) bound at end instead of part of preliminaries, title soiled with small hole affecting a couple of letters, lightly browned, R3 frayed at fore-edge, Y3 torn at head affecting text but no loss, contemporary mottled calf ruled in blind, spine gilt, rubbed, joints split, spine ends and corners a little worn, 4to, Rome, Congregatio de propaganda fide, 1636.

⁂ The first Coptic grammar published and the first to contain Coptic types, as well as Syriac, Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and Ethiopic. In 1629 the French scientist and book collector Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc received a group of Coptic manuscripts from his collaborator Teofilo Minuti on his return from travels in the Middle East. Coptic was still an unknown language at the time and Peiresc asked Kircher to help him decipher the texts. A few years later Kircher published the Prodromus, his first book on hieroglyphs.