REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE PHILOMATHEAN SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA TO TRANSLATE THE INSCRIPTION ON THE ROSETTA STONE. First Edition. by (Morton, Henry; Hale, Charles Reuben; and Jones, S. Huntington) - 1858

(L. N. Rosenthal for the) Philomathean Society, Philadelphia: ., 1858 pp. (2) [Title & Dedication]; 1-72; 81-136; (24) [Appendix] + An added colored scenic plate. Lithographed throughout, with many pages having colored illustrations and highly decorative frames. The lithographed text appears as a hand written manuscript. 4to. 230 mm. Original illustrated paper boards binding, with minor defects. Spine perished. The owner of this was the son of Robert Heysham Sayre, a major figure with Bethlehem Steel and the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Hardbound. Good. A remarkable achievement and landmark in the history of American color printing, and American scholarship. Both text and illustrations were produced entirely by lithography, requiring more than 400 stones. Most pages have borders. The transcriptions and translations are ornamented with colorful Egyptian motifs. Morton lacked enough lithography stones for the entire book; as each page was completed, the stone was reground and reused. This first edition of only 400 copies appeared in December 1858 and sold out immediately. Three Penn students translated the Rosetta Stone when a plaster facsimile of the Stone was presented to the University. The hieroglyphics of the original inscription are reproduced, with the hieratic and Greek. Each member of the committee wrote his contributions in his own hand reproduced here. Morton devised all the Egyptian designs & decorations; he undertook all the lithography himself, taking impressions of the stones under the direction of Max Rosenthal. Bennett p. 93; Reese 91. One of the greatest books of the American Victorian Age. For more on the history and significance of the Rosetta Stone please see the Wiki article and elsewhere. CHEST 2/1 L.. Hardcover. Good.