Five documented paper-board binding colors of the 1858 Philomathean Rosetta Stone Report, left, and six primary cloth colors of the 1859 edition, right. Decorative subvariants also occur. Surviving copies vary in wear and appearance; photographs are not color-calibrated or to a common scale. Image credits at bottom of the page.

In 1858, three young members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Philomathean Society published the first complete English translation of the Rosetta Stone. Their Report explained the ancient decree preserved in hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek inscriptions, drawing on the work of earlier scholars. It also became an extraordinary achievement in American printing. [Read more]