KIRCHER (Athanasius). PRODROMUS COPTUS SIVE... Lot 13

KIRCHER (Athanasius). PRODROMUS COPTUS SIVE AEGYPTIACUS. Rome, Typis S. Congr. De Propaganda Fide, 1636. In-4 contemporary ivory vellum, title calligraphied on spine; (3) blank ff., (4) ff. including title and dedication [t4], 338 pages [A-Z4; Aa-Ss4; Ss4], (9) ff. 497-622 pages [Rrr-Zzz4; Aaaa-Iiii4], (2) blank ff. The blank ff. are covered with old handwritten notes. Lack of vellum and cardboard in the lower part of the first cover, tiny lacks in the lower margin of the first 7 ff. Handwritten bookplate and inked stamp at foot of title. Some reversals of ff., pagination errors, LACKS the last f. "Iiii4" of the supplement, which contains the "achevé d'imprimer". ORIGINAL EDITION of this work on the Egyptian language by the German Jesuit Athanasius KIRCHER (1602-1680), physicist, mathematician, orientalist, cabalist and philologist. It contains numerous quotations printed in Coptic, Syriac and Chinese characters and is illustrated with woodcut figures in the text. It is the first published grammar of the Coptic language. Copy enlarged by a SUPPLEMENT entitled Prodomi et lexici copti supplementum (pages 497 to 622) which is part of another work by Kircher entitled Lingua Aegyptiaca restituta published in Rome in 1644. ¶ Caillet, 5790.