Visible speech: the science of universal alphabetics; or self-interpreting physiological letters, for the writing of all languages in one alphabet

London and NY: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. etc., 1867. Inaugural (i.e. first) edition, royal 8vo, pp. 126, [4] (ads); 16 stereotype plates representing the invented alphabet in handwriting and longhand; the text with ample instances of Bell's invention in type; navy pebbled cloth, gilt title on cover and spine, spine gilt faded, extremities rubbed, textblock shaken and tender on account of paper quality but holding, owner's signature on title page. Bell (1819-1905), the father of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, "was the leading teacher of the science of correct speech at the three capitals of England, Ireland and Scotland for twenty-two years ... His books on elocution remain the standard authority, more than 250 editions of The Principles of Elocution and The Standard Elocutionist having been printed" (DAB). His visible speech system predates the International Phonetic Alphabet by about 20 years, and was his attempt at creating a system of writing that could both represent every sound produced in any language and would also be derived from the physical act of producing sound so that it could be taught to deaf students by way of the physiology of language alone. The system only saw serious use for about a dozen years before it was deemed less efficient than other methods and was abandoned by educators.