[Rarebooks] 1858_1stEdit_Report of the Committee ... the Philomathean Society ... University of Pennsylvania to Translate... the Rosetta Stone

[Levant Books]

Offering today:


1858_1st Edition

Report of the Committee Appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to Translate the Inscription on the Rosetta Stone.

Published by (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 first complete English translation of the Rosetta Stone, it's signed with the signatures of the translators (Charles R. Hale, S. Huntington Jones, and Henry Morton) on page 6, dated 1857.

Size: 8” x 9” / Hardbound, complete.


Original illustrated paper boards binding, General external wear, including rubbing to edges and covers; corners rubbed and bumped - see photos.

Spine cover missing.

Contents fine.

Although complete, it is disbound into four parts:

  1.   Front cover plus free-front-endpaper plus two blank leaves, one bearing name of previous owner.
  2.   5 leaves (10 pages) - from Title page forward
  3.   Text block from page 7 to rear free endpaper
  4.   Back cover separated from text block

“The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1813, is the oldest continually existing college literary society in the U.S. In 1858, three undergraduate members of the Society published the first complete English translation of the Rosetta Stone. In 1988, the British Museum included the book in its select bibliography of the most important works ever published on the Rosetta Stone.”


>From a description by William Reese: "The first full translation of the Rosetta Stone, undertaken by three members of the University of Pennsylvania . . . [student body], provided the basis for a notable display of chromolithographic book illustration by the Philadelphia lithographer, Louis Rosenthal. The entire book was lithographed, presumably to better accommodate the hieroglyphs, but Rosenthal went far beyond necessity. He created hundreds of crude but exuberant chromolithographs intermingled with the text, showing scenes from Egyptian life or elaborate borders in quasi-Egyptian motifs. It is one of the few American books printed entirely by lithography.”


Described as a landmark in the history of American color printing, and American scholarship, produced entirely by lithography, requiring more than 400 stones. Many pages have borders. The transcriptions and translations are ornamented with colorful Egyptian motifs.


The first edition of only 400 copies appeared in December 1858 and sold out immediately.


Photos available.

US$ 850.—

Postpaid in USA by insured Priority Mail.

Payment by PayPal.

Subject to prior sale.


Robert Azzi

Exeter NH