Antoine-Paulin PIHAN
Exposé des signes de numération usités chez les peuples orientaux anciens et modernes
Imprimerie Impériale (1851-1870)|Paris 1860|15.5 x 23.8 cm|Broché
First edition, illustrated with numerous in-text tables.
Spine split with small losses, a restored tear at the foot of the upper cover, minor losses to the lower cover, internally well preserved.
Antoine-Paulin Pihan (1810–1879), who was proficient in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, held the modest post of compositor in the Oriental Typography department at the Imprimerie Impériale. Yet the volume of his linguistic work reveals an orientalist of far greater depth than his official title suggests. This work documents a remarkable variety of numeral systems (see the alphabetical index at the end of the volume), ranging from Albania to Japan, and from Ethiopia to Mongolia.
€450