[AMERICAN LITHOGRAPHY / ROSETTA STONE]. 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 L. N. Rosenthal for the Philomathean Society, Philadelphia, 1858

Small 4to (222 x 190 mm). Irregular pagination: [8], 9-72, 81-127, [1], 113-120, 129-136, [24] pp. (including two pages on two leaves of a letter from Humbolt for which see below). With 5 chromolithographs (including title), one of which is coming detached, and 1 b/w lithograph plate of the Rosetta Stone. Each page was executed in chromolithography, the Appendix in b/w (offsetting throughout, some toning or browning, but NO dampstaining or ugly marks). Original publisher's lithographed cartonnage boards decorated in a quasi "Egyptian-Art Nouveau" motif (rebacked with new spine bearing the original decorative lettering in brilliant pen facsimile; hinges cracked but firm, wear to binding extremities as is almost always the case, evidence of adhesive tape on front and back covers). Overall in good condition, with faults, and priced accordingly. THE FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ROSETTA STONE, AN IMPORTANT WORK OF AMERICAN CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY, A NOTORIOUSLY FRAGILE BOOK, AND ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND IN GOOD CONDITION. With its weird "Egyptomania / Art Nouveau" illustrations, this book has become one of the most famous and fabulous American lithograph books of the nineteenth century. "The first Americans who undertook the task [of translating the Rosetta Stone] were three undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. Their efforts resulted in the production of a rather remarkable volume. In the year 1855 a plaster cast of the Rosetta Stone was presented to the Philomathean Society of that University [.] Charles R. Hale, S. Huntington Jones and Henry Morton volunteered to make a translation. [.] Hale undertook the translation of the Greek and demotic texts, Jones prepared an essay on the historical significance of Ptolemy Epiphanes, while Morton took care of the hieroglyphic inscription and the pictorial decoration of the whole" (Adams). Morton's decorations are rich and delightful, and despite their charmingly amateurish draftsmanship (and legendary mispagination), the result is a tour-de-force of American chromolithography, and a real contribution to Egyptological studies. The value of the text itself cannot be overestimated, as it it includes the hieroglyphic text, and English translations of the Rosetta Stone's hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek texts; the Appendix includes the Greek text and a facsimile of the demotic text. The publication "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). This first edition, issued in an edition of 400 (or 600?) copies, sold out almost immediately. Over the last 167 years the bindings on almost every one of them have greatly deteriorated due to the fact that the fragile publisher's boards were far too weak to support the textblock. Indeed, we have never seen a copy that has not been rebacked or that the spine was not in some way defective. Our copy is rebacked with a new spine. ADDED: Tipped in at end is a facsimile of a MS letter Alexander von Humboldt to Chas. R. Hale, at Berlin, March 12, 1859, with English translation opposite (together 2 pages on 2 leaves). PROVENANCE: "Offingham B. Morris, Univ. of Pennsylvania" (his signature on fol. 2v dated 1875). Blackmer 77. Bennett, American Color Plate Books, p. 93. Randolph G. Adams, "The Rosetta Stone" in: Bibliographical Essays: A Tribute to Wilberforce Eames (1924), pp. 227-240. Seller Inventory # 4530

Bibliographic Details

Title: [AMERICAN LITHOGRAPHY / ROSETTA STONE]. ...
Publisher: L. N. Rosenthal for the Philomathean Society, Philadelphia
Publication Date: 1858
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition.