Après le déchiffrement, éditer l’égyptologie : La création du caractère hiéroglyphique de l’Imprimerie nationale (1842-1852)

Résumé 0

In 1822, Champollion reads the Lettre à Monsieur Dacier at the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, founding text of modern egyptology in which he describes his methodology for the reading of the Rosetta Stone’s cartouches. The works of the egyptology’s father, widely unpublished when he dies, is a challenge for their publishers: how to print hieroglyphic inscriptions? From 1828, some hieroglyphic punches are sketched at the French Imprimerie royale, under the supervision of J. Klaproth. However, the first typeface of importance is cut between 1842 and 1852 in this institution, thanks to E. Burnouf, who is at that time Inspector for oriental typefaces. This typeface is a matrix for the development of Egyptological publications. This paper describes the issue of such a project, but also the way this work explains the scientific development of Egyptology in its first decades.