Report of the committee appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to translate the inscription on the Rosetta Stone
Contributors: Hale, Charles R. (Charles Reuben), 1837-1900; Jones, Samuel Huntington, 1837-1894; Morton, Henry, 1836-1902; Morton, Henry, 1836-1902, illustrator; Rosenthal, L. N. (Louis N.), lithographer; Rosenthal, L. N. (Louis N.), printer; Ringwalt & Co
Edition: Second edition.
Publisher: [Printed by L. N. Rosenthal]
Published: 1859
Place of publication: Philadelphia]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 152
Subjects: Rosetta stone
Other titles: Rosetta stone.
Notes: "Near the close of the college year of 1855-6, Mr. Thos. H. Conrad presented to the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania a facsimile in plaster, of the famous Rosetta Stone, reading at the same time an essay on the subject of hieroglyphic research. In due course of time a committee ... was appointed to prepare a translation of the inscriptions engraved on the stone, and to present the same to the Society. In pursuance ... your committee now present the following text, translations, and historical essay ..."--Report, p. [5-6]. Signed: Chas. R. Hale, S. Huntington Jones, Henry Morton, committee. June 1857.

"The Committee on the Rosetta Stone, having reported to the Society the results of their investigations, have been charged by it with the further duty of preparing a limited edition of their work. ... Sensible of their deficiencies ... they have done what they could and now submit their work to the judgment of their readers. ... The illuminations and illustrations, designed by Mr. Morton and drawn by him upon stone, have been printed at the establishment of L.N. Rosenthal, n.w. corner of Fifth and Chesnut Sts. Phila."--Preface, p. [3-4]. Dated: August 3rd, 1858.

"The Society, at their meeting of Jan. 21st 1859, having expressed their desire that a second edition of this report should be printed, the work was at once proceeded with by the above named committee."--p. [6].

Copyright 1859 by C.R. Hale, S.H. Jones and H. Morton. The copyright is printed on a separate slip inserted at the end of the book.

The report, which includes the hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek inscriptions and their translations (Greek and demotic by Hale, and the hieroglyphic by Morton), was produced entirely by lithography; requiring more than 400 stones. As each page was completed, the stone was reground and reused. The first edition of 400 copies appeared shortly before Christmas 1858, and was sold out within four weeks. When a second edition was required only about twenty of the stones remained to be reused. Most of the designs are totally different; some are copied from the first edition but the handwriting and line endings show that they are new. The stones which were reused are easily discovered because of the erratic pagination in the first edition. The second edition attempted to correct this, but wherever an original stone was reused the pagination is out of sequence, and here noted: p. 98, 103, 112, 113, 116, 117 and 135 misnumbered 106, 111, 211, 121, 124, 125 and 131.

Two states of p. [6] noted. In one the names of the committee members are printed. In the other there is a brace and the word "Committee" printed between the end of the original text and the notice about the second edition, and each of the committee members has written his name in ms.

"Catalogue of members of the Philomathean Society, instituted in the University of Pennsylvania, MDCCCXIII. Philadelphia: Ringwalt & Co., printers, 34 South Third Street. 1859."--24 p. at end.

Bound in publishers' cloth of varying colors and with variations in design and spine ornamentation.

Rare Book copy: Original purple-brown blindstamped cloth binding with design in yellow and gilt sphinx on both covers.