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Champollion, Jean-François (1790-1832) Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique des Anciens Égyptiens, ou Recherches.
Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1828.
Second edition, two octavo volumes (text and plate volume); illustration volume with three sections: plates 1-21; 11 plates marked A-K with tables of the phonetic alphabet; and 20 plates numbered I-XX; many folding; the set bound in period half tan straight-grain morocco and marbled paper boards, very nicely preserved; 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (2)
"Counting 1,419 hieroglyphic signs in the Rosetta Stone, Champollion reasoned that this many ideas could not possibly be conveyed in the mere 486 words of the Greek text. The large number of different hieroglyphs suggested that they were not entirely ideographic but represented a hybrid system. He also observed correspondences between hieroglyphs and the handwritten scripts from ancient Egypt: hieratic and demotic. Investigating the demotic sign sequence corresponding to ‘Alexandria' on the Rosetta Stone, Champollion suggested that the word was constituted from a series of signs which were phonetic – the name itself – plus another, ideographic sign indicating the way in which the phonetic component should be understood, in this case as a place name." (Quoted from Ilona Regulski, writing on the British Museum's blog, "Eureka! Finding the Key to Ancient Egypt.")
