Recent Foreign Books on the Graphic Arts, Bibliography, and Library Science

Ernst Doblhofer's Zeichen und Wunder; die Entzifferung verschollener Schriften und Sprachen (Vienna: Paul Neff Verlag, 1957) is the history of the decipherment of ancient scripts; and it ranges from the Rosetta Stone to the yet undeciphered Etruscan, Indus, and Easter Island inscriptions. Well illustrated and fully documented with references to the basic monographs and articles in scholarly journals, Doblhofer's text is nevertheless in a light, almost journalistic style. He deals not only with the language of peoples who developed a high level of culture, but also with the languages and scripts of more primitive civilizations. As a text for courses in the history of books and writing, Zeichen und Wunder deserves a high place on the reading lists. At the same time, however, the rapid advances being made in many fields covered by this book suggest the need for frequent revision of this book.