Alphabetum Tironianum seu notas Tironis explicandi methodus. Large folio

Carpentier, Pierre (1697-1767). Alphabetum tironianum seu notas tironis explicanda methodus . . . xiii, [3], 20, [15]-16, 21-108pp. (several cancel leaves inserted out of order). 5 engraved plates, numerous full-page engravings in the text. Paris: Apud Hipplolytum-Ludovicum Guerin, & Jacobum Guerin, 1747. 449 x 297 mm. Paste paper boards ca. 1747, rebacked in morocco, light edgewear. Light foxing and occasional soiling but very good.

First Edition of Carpentier's treatise on Tironian notes, the first standardized system of Latin shorthand; it was supposedly created in the first century CE by Marcus Tullius Tiro, Cicero's personal secretary, using existing Greek systems as a model. "Tiro's position required him to quickly and accurately transcribe dictations from Cicero, such as speeches, professional and personal correspondence, and business transactions, sometimes while walking through the forum or during fast-paced and contentious government and legal proceedings. Nicknamed 'the father of stenography' by historians, Tiro developed a highly refined and accurate method that used Latin letters and abstract symbols to represent prepositions, truncated words, contractions, syllables, and inflections" (Wikipedia). Tiro's shorthand system was widely used from classical times until roughly the twelfth century CE and continued to be practiced into the seventeenth century.

Carpentier's Alphabetum tironianum is one of the first modern attempts to explain the cipherment and decipherment of Tironian notes and to give instructions for the Tironian system. Much of the work consists of ninth-century formularies based on the charters of Louis the Pious at the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, with shorthand and spelled-out versions of the Latin text on facing pages.