[L'ÉPÉE, Charles-Michel abbé de]

Institution of the deaf and dumb or Collection of the exercises supported by the deaf and dumb Paris, Butard's printing office, 1774 THE CREATION OF THE SIGN LANGUAGE ALPHABET FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB ORIGINAL EDITION In-8 (157 x 82 mm). Curious finial printed on the title page. Woodcut initials, headbands and endpapers. COLLATION : a4 A-D12 E4 CONTENTS: a1r title, a2r : Exercise of the deaf and dumb in 1774, a3r : Warning, A1r : text ANNOTATION : 5 handwritten ff. by abbé Sépher, mounted at the head of the copy BINDING OF THE PERIOD. brown calf, gilt decoration, triple fillet in frame, long spine decorated with grotesque, vertical titling, marbled edges PROVENANCE: according to a handwritten note, Abbé Pierre-Jacques Sépher (1710-1781) -- Maurice Villaret (1877-1946; bookplate) RARITY: according to Worldcat, only one copy has been recorded in the U.S., in the National Library of Medicine Hinges lightly rubbed, covers previously restored The abbé de L'Épée (1712-1789) wanted to facilitate the learning of the natural language of signs by bringing it closer to the syntax of the written language. To implement his method, he opened a free school for the handicapped. By giving a means of expression to the deaf and dumb, Abbé de L'Épée gave them back their humanity and brought them out of precariousness. Four years later, in 1778, King Louis XVI personally acknowledged the work of Abbé de L'Épée and placed the institution under his protection. Then, Emperor Joseph II and Catherine II of Russia brought subsidies to this philanthropic work. BIBLIOGRAPHY: In French in the text, 168 -- Mercure de France, May 1778, p.89