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an old book with a brown cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old book with a black and white title on itan old book with a picture of a man on a horse and a dogan old book with a drawing of various symbols on it
ALDE

149 - COURT DE GÉBELIN (Antoine). *Natural History of Speech, or A…
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Estimate €400 - €500
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Description
COURT DE GÉBELIN (Antoine). *Natural History of Speech, or A Summary of the Origin of Language and Universal Grammar*. Paris: published by the author, Boudet, Valleyre and others, 1776. In-8, marbled calfskin, plain spine with decoration, marbled edges (contemporary binding). First separate edition of this treatise on the origins of language, extracted from the third volume of *The Primitive World Analysed and Compared with the Modern World*. The author regards vowels as representing sensations and consonants as representing ideas. He seeks to establish that, in every language, writing was originally hieroglyphic, with each letter initially representing a natural object. The work is illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece engraved by Romanet after Marillier, a fold-out plate on primitive alphabets and a colour-engraved fold-out plate by Gauthier d’Agoty the Elder – the first colour print of this design – depicting the tongue, the larynx and the vocal organs. A charming copy in a contemporary binding. Minor scuffing. Cohen, 261 – Brunet, II, 1516 – Quérard, II, 316 – *Anatomie de la couleur*, BnF, 1996, pp. 100–105.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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