| Edition |
First paperback edition. |
| Description |
224 pages : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits ; 26 cm |
| Note |
Originally published: New York : Thames and Hudson, 1995. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-219) and index. |
| Summary |
The author demystifies writing, explaining the interconnection between sound, symbol, & script, and discussing the major writing systems, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Maya hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan. Full coverage is given to the story of decipherment and how the words of past ages have been brought back to life through the efforts of Champollion, Ventris, & others. |
| Contents |
How writing works: Reading the Rosetta Stone -- Sound, symbol and script -- Proto-writing -- Extinct writing: Cuneiform -- Egyptian hieroglyphs -- Linear B -- Mayan Glyphs -- Undeciphered scripts -- Living writing: First alphabet -- New alphabets from old -- Chinese writing -- Japanese writing -- From hieroglyphs to Alphabets--and back? |
| Subject |
Writing -- History.
|
|
Alphabet.
|
| ISBN |
0500281564 paperback $19.95 |
|
