A fine morocco volume comprising the first five of Seyffarths monographic contributions to Egyptology (apparently all that had been published at the time of binding: two more were to follow by 1840). While the first part contains the earliest catalogue raisonnée of the substantial Berlin collection of papyri, parts 2-5 (published with continuous pagination) constitute a bold investigation of early Egyptian astronomy and its all-pervading cosmological cult.
This section includes a hand-coloured frontispiece of astronomical animal forms and ten large folding plates, all lithographed, showing important pieces of archaeological evidence: the Navicula astronomica (Paris), Zodiacus Tentyriticus (Paris), Zodiacus Taurinensis (Turin), Sarcophagus Sethi (London), Sarcophagus Ramsis (Paris), Monolithus Amosis (Paris), Mensa Isiaca (Rome) and a Papyrus funeralis formerly in the dHermand collection. The final part is an astronomical lexicon, a typographical masterpiece that fits more than 1300 lithographed hieroglyphs precisely into their letterpress explanations.
A luxury copy printed entirely on wove paper and bound in elaborate morocco with finely goffered edges (unusual for a secular binding of the time) by the Leipzig master Anton Wilhelm August Stumme (1804-67), who also worked for Robert Schumann.
Minor wear to binding, occasional foxing as often in early wove paper, coloured frontispiece browned evenly; largely insignificant gutter tears to four folding plates. A crisp, unused copy in a magnificent binding. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 229f.