Vol. I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

Introduction. xvii
the Collections of Egyptian monuments and papyri for the official
Guide to the British Museum, and his account of them was
published in the " Synopsis " for 1838. Long before he entered Birch's idea
the Museum he conceived the idea of compiling a of a
Hieroglyphic
_,. . Hieroglyphic
Dictionary, and began to write down, each on a separate slip of Dictionary.
paper, the hieroglyphic
published by James Burton, 1
Rosellini 4
and Salvolini. 5
words which he found in the texts
Gardner Wilkinson, 2
Champollion, 5
BIRCH'S " SKETCH OF A HIEEOGLYPHICAL DICTIONARY."
This work of word-collecting had been somewhat interrupted
by his duties in the Public Record Office in 1834-5, but soon
after he entered the Museum he took it up with redoubled zeal,
and he copied every hieroglyphic text and transcribed every
hieratic papyrus which the Museum possessed. In 1837, the year
in which Lepsius published his famous Letter to Rosellini, Birch
revised his slips carefully, and decided to attempt to publish a
'
Hieroglyphical Dictionary." In those days no fount of hiero-
glyphic type existed, and lithography was expensive, and publishers
were not eager to spend their money on a dictionary of a language
of which scarcely a dozen people in the whole world had any
real knowledge. At length Messrs. William Allen & Co., of Publication'
Leadenhall Street, London, were induced to consider the publica- sketch of a
tion of a hieroglyphic dictionary, but they decided to issue first Hierpglyphical
of all a few specimen pages, with a short Preface by Birch, with
the view of finding out how far the work would be supported by
the learned and the general public. Thereupon Birch prepared
for the lithographer twelve small quarto pages containing ninety-
three words, and having written a Preface of two pages to explain
his system of arrangement of the words, they were published in
the autumn of 1838 under the title of " Sketch of a Hieroglyphical
Dictionary. Part I. Hieroglyphs and English. Division I.
Phonetical Symbols. Vowels."
In his Preface Birch says that he has drawn up
his work to
help the student of hieroglyphs in his researches, and that he
intends it to be used as a manual which " all who appreciate the
value of the phonetic system may use, and by which, at one glance, Birch's
may be seen the extent of the discoveries of Dr. Young and Phonetic
1
Excerpta Hieroglyphica. Cairo, 1825-1837, fol. (privately printed).
2
Ma.teria Hieroglyphica. Malta, 1824-1830 (privately printed).
5 Lettres ecrites d'Jigypte et de Nubie e.n 1828 et 1829. Paris, 1833.
8
/ Monumenti dell' Egitio e della Nubia. Pisa, 1832 ff.
Campagne de Rhamses le Grand contre les Sheta et leurs allies. Paris, 1835.
6
system.