Description
Philosophical Library, [No date: circa 1948]. Hardcover, 607 pp.; 24 cm; illustrated with black-and-white photographs, figures, and script tables throughout. Probable reprint of the First Edition (not the Second and Revised Edition).
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
112
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In Good condition, no dust jacket. Red cloth boards with gold lettering to spine. Mild shelf wear to board edges with some bumping to corners; light wear at spine head; gold spine lettering remains bright and legible. Spine mildly cocked but binding is still sound. Front pastedown heavily toned with a striated offset pattern; facing free endpaper lightly toned. Text pages lightly toned. Otherwise unmarked. Contents include: Foreword by Sir Ellis Minns; Preface; Introduction; First Part: Non-Alphabetic Systems of Writing: Cuneiform Writing; Hieroglyphic Writing; Cretan Scripts; Indus Valley Civilization and its Undeciphered Script; Hittites and their Scripts; Chinese Language and Writing; Ancient Central America and Mexico, and their Scripts; Mysterious Script of Easter Island; Other Ideographic Scripts; Syllabic Systems of Writing; Quasi-Alphabetic Scripts; Second Part: Alphabetic Scripts: Origin of Alphabet; South Semitic Alphabets; Canaanite Branch; Aramaic Branch; Non-Semitic Offshoots of Aramaic Branch; Indian Branch; Further-Indian Branch; The Greek Alphabet and its Offshoots; Etruscan and Italic Alphabets; The Latin Alphabet; Conclusion; General Bibliography; Index. Diringer's comprehensive history of the development of writing, tracing both non-alphabetic systems (cuneiform, hieroglyphic, Cretan, Indus Valley, Hittite, Chinese, Maya, Easter Island, syllabic, and quasi-alphabetic scripts) and alphabetic scripts from their Semitic origins through the Greek, Etruscan, and Latin alphabets. Profusely illustrated throughout with photographs, figures, and script tables. David Diringer (1900-1975), a British linguist and paleographer born in Tlumach, Galicia, was a leading scholar of ancient scripts.