Semantography (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 3rd Edition. Some light shelf wear to dust cover, see photo's. Includes the Bookmark, specifically made for this book! It seems the dust cover was altered by hand to read "third"enlarged Edition and "3rd" edition on the spine. This dust cover is distinctly different to the first and second edition. At the bottom the Text is added: "This Book Will Be Banned Because it spells doom to Demagogues". text is clean, bright and free from writing/highlighting. 882p.

Paperback. Condition: Good+. Good+. Pamphlet in original stiff cardboard with red tape stapled binding. Library stamp to front cover. 52 pp. Published paper read in parts at the annual meeting of the American Asociation for the Advancement of Science Philadelphia, 1951 and at the Conference of the International Society of Significs Amsterdam 1953. A scarce scholarly publication giving "serious consideration and support" to Charles Bliss' Blissymbolics.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good+. Dust Jacket Condition: very good. Second edition. Second enlarged edition. 882 pp. Very good+, green cloth binding with gilt titles, spine a bit sunned at head and tail; in very good dust jacket with slight rubbing. Reprint "The Magic Language of Charles Bliss" from Reader's Digest (October 1977) laid in. A classic of "outsider" thought. Bliss, born Karl Kasiel Blitz to Austrian Jewish parents, worked as a patent engineer until 1938, when he was sent to a concentration camp; thanks to his wife's efforts he was freed a year later, but they were only able to reunite in Shanghai where they were again imprisoned, in the Hongkew ghetto by the Japanese. While in China Bliss became interested in Chinese characters, and began to experiment with the idea of a universally understandable writing system, a sort of symbolic Esperanto. In 1946 they emigrated to Australia, where Bliss worked as a laborer and assembled the first edition of Semantography - a visual, logical writing system. His work was always motivated by his hope that mutual understanding would inspire peace, and sometimes borders on crankery; however the clear logic of Semantography was received positively by contemporary intellectuals (Julian Huxley and Bertrand Russell among others). Semantography has proven durable, useful to facilitate communication with the disabled, and has recently been proposed for inclusion in the Unicode international standard computer alphabet.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Stated 'Second enlarged Edition.' The first edition was published in 1949 in three volumes. The title page of the first edition is on page 63 in this edition. It was titled International Semantography. Both editions are very rare. This book stands alone as the Only signed copy for sale on the Internet. The inscription is on the first front end paper. It reads: 'To you my good friends Gisa and Joseph in Gratitude for your kind help and interest and in the hope that you might persuade Jewish people in the U.S.A. to donate this book to libraries in Israel, from your old friend Karl Bliss--'. After his signature he wrote a few Hebrew letters, presumably his Hebrew name (see 2nd photo). No other copy of either the first or second edition or of anything else he published is signed. Happily, the book is in very solid shape. The only flaw of any significance is the color change on the spine and on both of the front cover which were exposed to the sun. The rear cover has a little of the same off its top edge. There are also three dark spots on the front cover. The gilt lettering on the front is nicely bright and surprisingly, despite the color change, it is fairly bright on the spine as well. The edges and corners are in excellent shape. There is no rubbing on any of the edges or corners. The two top edges are more of an olive green. The middle and bottom page edges have retained their original green color. The page edges are in very good shape, no conspicuous soiling. Importantly, this 882 page book is very solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout (without exception) and nicely tight covers as well. The interior of the book is in exceptional condition. Scrolling through, I'm not finding any instances of soiling, and there is no foxing. I'm not finding any conspicuous creasing, no turned-down corners or placeholder creases. A group of pages in the middle of the book have a vague little crinkle down a little ways from their top corners, visible on only one side, nothing much of anything. There are no markings in the book. There are no attachments of any kind. This is NOT an ex-library book. And with the exception of the author's signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere. The book has a great many illustrations. C.K. Bliss' work was met with skepticism from many quarters. His persistence was encouraged by both Julian Huxley and Bertrand Russell. Their comments can be seen on the page facing the title page. Russell writes in 1950: 'Supporting Bliss' work means performing an important service to mankind. If schools throughout the world would clarify the use of words calculated to promote passion, the existing hatred between nations, creeds, and political parties would very rapidly diminish, and the preservation of peace throughout the world would become an easy matter.' Huxley, in 1954, added: 'Bliss' work provides something of real importance.' After much struggle 'The world copyright for use of his symbols with handicapped children was licensed to the Blissymbolics Communication Foundation in Canada. In 1976 Bliss was made a Member of the Order of Australia (A.M.) for 'services to the community, particularly to handicapped children.' And in recognition of 'the innovative nature of his work, Bliss was appointed an Honorary Fellow in Linguistics at the Australian National University.' In 1974 Bliss was the subject of the film Mr Symbol Man, a co-production of Film Australia and the National Film Board of Canada.' From the title page: 'A simple system of 100 logical pictorial symbols, which can be operated and read like 1+2=3 in all languages. It can be typed and printed, and used in international communication and commerce, industry and science. It contains also a simple semantics, logic, and ethics, which even children can learn to use in their problems.'. Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Charles Bliss [1897-1985] was a chemical engineer until WWII forced him and his wife to flee Europe. In 1946 they landed in Australia where he directed his full effort to developing what would come to be known as semantography, an easy-to-learn ideographic writing system which would enable people of different languages to communicate. - Wikipedia. Upon its publication in 1949, Bliss wrote to 6,000 educators around the world, seeking to encourage interest in his work, but very little was expressed, although he did hear back from a few, including Bertrand Russell and Julian Huxley. They gave him the courage to carry on. - film "Mr. Symbol Man" xxii, 1-37, XXVIII, 38-90; [28], 91-414; [10], 415-670 pp. Index. Occasional paperclip marks. Four lines of the acknowledgements section stroked out in ballpoint pen, presumably by publisher. Similar corrections to pages 82 and 665. Respectful wear to original blue cloth which is sunned at spines, although all backstrip text remains boldly legible. Narrow openings along each hinge of Volumes I and II. Both hinges of Volume II open. "Should this manuscript find no publisher [which turned out to be the case] I shall supply the greatest libraries with a duplicated copy, in the hope that a future researcher may come across and use it. I inform him that I shall deposit all my former manuscripts and notebooks with the library of Columbia University, New York. And I wish him luck." - page 663. Decades later, semantography, subsequently renamed Blissymbolics, has proven helpful in allowing the disabled to communicate. A rare first edition copy of this most unique and fascinating treatise.; 4to.

Second edition. Thick octavo. 882 pp. Custom full green morocco (signed in gilt on front turn-in in 2023 by K.M.M.), smooth spine with five panels elaborately gilt and one with gilt lettering, gilt turn-ins. Very faint (almost unnoticeable) and small stamp on copyright page. else a beautiful coy.Blissymbolics was conceived by Austro-Hungarian expatriate Charles K. Bliss (1897?1985), born Karl Kasiel Blitz to a Jewish family in the town of Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi in modern-day Ukraine). He was introduced to signs and symbols at an early age in the form of circuit diagrams ? his father?s many occupations included mechanic and electrician ? which he understood immediately as a ?logical language? Bliss (then Blitz) attended the Vienna University of Technology for chemical engineering and went on to become chief of the patent department at the German TV and radio company Telefunken, a career that was cut short in early 1938 when the Third Reich annexed Austria. Bliss was sent to Dachau concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald, before settling in Australia. At the age of 45, Bliss was inspired to develop a non-alphabetic writing system that could be mastered in a short period of time and read by anyone regardless of their spoken language. This work remained the focus of his lifeThe writing system ? originally named World Writing in 1942, then Semantography in 1947, and finally Blissymoblics in the 1960s ? contains several hundred basic geometric symbols (?Bliss-characters?) that can be combined in different ways to represent more complex concepts. It is still in limited use today. Since 1971 Blissymbolics have been used mainly as a communication aid for people with communication, language and learning difficulties. Such people have limited or no ability to use ordinary spoken and/or written language but manage to learn Blissymbolics.