Champollion, (Jean-Francois), Precis du Systeme Hieroglyphique des Anciens Egyptiens ou Recherches, two volumes in one book, 1824, First edition, Treuttel and Wurtz, Paris, hardcover, 8vo., in 19th-century 3/4 polished calf, marbled boards, raised bands, gilt design and title labels to spine, 410, 45 pp., plates complete: 16 in volume 1 (some folding) and 32 in the rear of volume 2, both title pages present, half-title in volume 1 only. The most important book in the history of Egyptology and the first to clearly and fully decipher hieroglyphics. Provenance: from the estate of Bruce Baker, classicist and scholar who used hieroglyphics to form the symbolic basis of Minspeak, the most used augmentative and alternative communication software in the world; also with bookplate of sinologist and anthropologist Leon Stover to front pastedown.