Presentation copy inscribed on the front wrapper, “To Charlotte Frances Gray/ with Samuel L. Birch’s/ best regards and wishes for/ her welfare.” Birch had been seeing Ms. Gray at the time the sketch was published, and presumably presented her with this copy, his first work on Egyptology, produced when he was 25 years old, and an assistant at the British Museum. His specialty was Chinese antiquities, and he was an accomplished linguist, but he became fascinated with the Egyptian hieroglyphic system postulated by Chompollion after his examination of the Rosetta Stone. He, along with his German counterpart Lepsius, was among the first scholars to defend the system, and he would go on to become the leading Egyptologist of his day. This groundbreaking work consists of the title-page, two-page preface, and a 12-page lithographic insert on slightly smaller paper showing the symbols and English translations. Though there was never a Part II per se of this work, he expanded upon it, and eventually completed a comprehensive hieroglyphic dictionary in 1857. OCLC/WorldCat lists only seven copies, and most of those show the insert as being only 8 pages. A rare and important association copy if a seminal text on Egyptology. Charlotte Frances Gray, the eventual Mrs. Birch, was the younger sister of J.E. Gray, a friend and colleague of Charles Darwin.