Large 4to. 280x220 mm ; binding in boards. Vignette on titlepage. Pp. VIII, 76. 12 lithographic plates engraved by Callet and 2 tables. Many illustrations with linguistics type present in the text. Good copy with wide margins.
Very rare first edition. Interesting work by the ethnologist, pre-Columbian-American epistemologist and French linguist de Rosny, who illustrates the figurative or hieroglyphic writings of different cultures, mainly those of the Chinese, Mexicans and ancient Egyptians. Particularly suggestive is the section dedicated to Chinese ideographic signs, which were used from an ante-historical period; in China these characters have been able to withstand all revolutions and keep up to the present day.