Coffee & Donatus

Stories, images and casual conversations about early grammars. Occasionally straying into related matters of art and design. Follow us on Twitter.

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Computing communication (1827).

Dr. Priestley's English Grammar Improved lets you compute your own words. (London: Printed for S. Guerrier, 1827). This wonderful little volvelle brings new meaning to the idea of word-smithing. This grammar is ostensibly an “improved” edition of Joseph Priestley’s Rudiments (1761), and was published decades after his death. This work appears to be more or less the publishers capitalizing off the Priestley name and prior work. This volvelle is called “Etymological Circles”, and nothing like it is found in the editions written by Priestley and published in his lifetime.

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Dastardly dealings with dogs (1830). 

Unpleasant illustrated diagram discussing potential mood in Roscoe Goddard Greene's A practical grammar of the English language (Portland: Shirley and Hyde, 1830). This is the second edition, the first appearing in 1829. I’m hoping the back story of this diagram was something akin to Cujo, but I’m doubtful. 

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Things get a little tense (1860).

Brantley York diagrams the relationships among tenses in his Illustrative and Constructive Grammar (Raleigh: Warren L. Pomeroy, 1860). English grammar in English.

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An ibis A (1636).

Athanasius Kircher’s Coptic grammar offers two options for making an ‘A’ out of an ibis—one requires a snake. From Prodromus Coptus sive Aegyptiacus (Rome: Typis S. Cong. De Propag. Fide, 1636). Kircher’s grammar tries to draw (sometimes literally) connections between hieroglyphics and other writing systems.

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No-so-plain English (1895).

Here’s some fancy-pants lettering on the binding of a book ostensibly about plain English. The full title is Plain English: a Practical Work on the English Language (1895). No author or publisher is given, but the book was copyrighted by the Practical Text-Book Company in Washington, DC (also 1895). This book claims to exclude all the "make-believe" that can be found in other grammars. It actually does not call itself a grammar, and the author is clearly a devotee of Richard Grant White.

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Typoglyphics (1768).

Lacking the hieroglyphics he needs, Rowland Jones gets creative with what's in the type case. Detail from the last leaf of Hieroglyfic: or, a grammatical introduction to an universal hieroglyfic language; consisting of English signs and voices. With a definition of all the parts of the English, Welsh, Greek, and Latin languages; some physical, metaphysical, and moral cursory remarks on the nature, properties, and rights of men and things. And rules and specimens for composing an hieroglyfic vocabulary of the signs or figures, as well as the sounds of things, under rational and philosophical principles, and the primitive meaning of names (London: Printed By John Hughes, 1768). Scholar R. C. Alston called Jones' works on linguistics "singularly eccentric."

Title of this post thanks to Peter Fraterdeus.

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Getting ill from Latin grammar (1675).

I get ill just looking at Joannes Agop’s Grammatica Latina Armenice explicata (Rome: Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1675). Agop’s book is a Latin grammar in Armenian. 

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Mispelling syntax (ca. 1799)

Late 18th century grammatical manuscript gets off to a rocky start with the incorrect spelling of “syntax.” The author is unknown, but the manuscript concludes with a date of August 23rd, 1799. Personally, I’m a fan of the double-a spelling for syntaax.

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Concluding with a chronogram (1762).

Johann George Raussendorf’s Latin grammar replaces the usual “FINIS” with “ConCLVDIMVs” (we conclude) using some unconventional capitalization. If all the capitalized letters are read as Roman numerals and added together, they give us a total of 1761. It’s possible this is a chronogram representing the date that Raussendorf finished writing text, which was published the following year. Entitled, Lateinische grammatica für frauenzimmer und diejenigen welche einen Lateinischen terminum lernen wollen (Leipzig: Carl Ludwig Jacobi, 1762), the book is an unusual example of Latin grammar written for women. It appeared only in this first edition.

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Man and Snake debut in Pond's grammar (1835).

Man’s rocky relationship with Snake explored in Enoch Pond’s Murray’s system of English grammar, improved, and adapted to the present mode of instruction in this branch of science (Worcester: Published by Dorr, Howland, & Co., 1835).

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Perfectly imperfect (1793).

An owner of an imperfect copy of David Kimhi's Hebrew grammar, Sefer Mikhlol (Fürth, 1793), kindly supplied the missing leaves in a beautiful cursive hand. 

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Catamongous (1859).

Thought to have been extinct by the late middle ages, the giant cat species commonly known as catamongous is found depicted in a 19th century grammar for schoolchildren. The illustration of the fearsome catamongous is found in James Hutchinson’s The juvenile grammar for the use of schools and private families (London: Wright, Simpkin, and Co.; Printed by Woolley and Co., 1859). Hutchinson’s reputation for including the most realistic images in his educational works leads some experts to believe that catamongous may actually have roamed the streets of London at the time this grammar was printed.

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Found a fern frond (1834).

Found a fern frond left behind in Joshua Seixas’ A Manual Hebrew Grammar for the Use of Beginners. Second Edition Enlarged and Improved (Andover: Printed by Gould and Newman, 1834). Seixas (1802-1874) is remembered for being the Hebrew teacher of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church. He was hired to teach Hebrew to Smith along with a number of his compatriots, and this second edition is assumed to be the text they used. It is also thought that the Smith’s name for the important Mormon settlement of Navuoo came from Seixas’ grammar. Navuoo in Hebrew means comely or beautiful.

See more of Seixas’s grammar and the page with Navuoo here.

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Verbal abuse (1859).

One can learn about verbs and the perils of 19th century education in James Hutchinson's The juvenile grammar for the use of schools and private families (London: Wright, Simpkin, and Co.; Printed by Woolley and Co., 1859).

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Fifty styles of type! That’s no humbug! (1882)

Advertisement for custom rubber stamps bound into C. M. Lanning’s A grammar and vocabulary of the Blackfoot language (Fort Benton: Published by the Author, 1882). In addition to helping travelers in the Montana Territory learn some of the local language, Lanning’s grammar has a number of advertisements for articles available for sale at his Fort Benton shop, including watches, clocks, jewelry, spectacles, silver, and of course, rubber stamps.

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A bird in the bush (1727).

Detail of the lovely brocade paper binding on a 18th century Italian grammar. No author is given for the work, entitled Avvertimenti Gramaticali per Chi Scrive in Lingua Italiana (Venice: Appresso Giovanni Manfrè, 1727), but other similarly titled works are attributed to the Italian Cardinal Pietro Sforza Pallavicino.

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Learning to love (1698).

Learning ‘to love’ in Guy Miege's English grammar in French, entitled Nouvelle facile methode pour apprendre l'Anglois (Amsterdam: Chez Pierre Mortier, 1698).