DRUMMOND William Mémoire sur l’antiquité des zodiaques d’Esneh et de Denderah. Traduction de l’anglais.

First edition of the French translation by Fresnel.

Sir William Drummond of Logialmond (1770-1828), Scottish diplomat, member of Parliament, poet and writer, was ambassador to Naples and to the Ottoman Empire. This work on the great bas-relief discovered at Denderah was printed in only 60 copies, all reserved for the author (see Brunet).

The controversy about the dating of the famous Egyptian zodiac of Denderah involved such prestigious figures as the mathematician Joseph Fourier, Champollion and Cuvier. Sir William Drummond of Logialmond had first published in English his “Memoir on the Antiquity of the Zodiacs of Esneh and Dendera” in 1821.

Fine copy albeit some light foxing, printed on thick paper and attractively bound.

It bears an ex-dono on the flyleaf “James Mellinger, given by the author. Naples, January 1824”.