KIRCHER, Athanasius (1602-1680). Prodromus Coptus sive Aegyptiacus. Rome: Propaganda Fide, 1636.

First edition of the first printed Coptic grammar—a pioneering study of the relationship between Coptic and ancient Egyptian and other near Eastern languages. Although Kircher was famously prone to flights of fancy, and here no less than in his other works, he was correct about the link between Coptic and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and his intuition here helped inspire Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of the Rosetta Stone. Kircher had been given several Coptic manuscripts by his friend Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc, and later acquired an Arabic-Coptic vocabulary brought from Egypt by Pietro della Valle. "On the basis of these, and with Peiresc’s encouragement, Kircher compiled the Prodromus. As the title reveals, it was to be a precursor of a later work on the Egyptian language, perhaps the Lingua aegyptiaca restituta … Because 'things Egyptian' were the rage in seventeenth-century Europe, the Prodromus attained immediate popularity and firmly established Kircher's reputation as a scholar" (Merrill).

The Prodromus also explores possible connections to other languages and artefacts, including the mysterious Bembine Tablet and the recently discovered Xi’an Stele, a Tang-era inscription in both Chinese and Syriac first seen by Jesuits in 1625. Kircher would maintain his interest in these other scripts and histories throughout his career, occasionally to the chagrin of his patron Peirsec and inviting attacks from other scholars. The book is dedicated to Cardinal Barberini, and this is the issue with his arms on the title page. See lot for the woodblocks used to print this remarkable work of linguistic scholarship and imagination. Merrill 3; Sommervogel V 1074.3. See Paula Findlan, editor The Last Man Who Knew Everything (2004).

Quarto (227 x 166mm). Woodcut arms of Cardinal Barberini on title, woodcut illustrations throughout depicting Egyptian hieroglyphs and seals, Coptic script, and Chinese characters (intermittent toning or spotting, a few wormholes and one wormtrack affecting several words). 18th-century stiff vellum, red speckled edges, title in ink on spine.