Essai sur les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens

Essai sur les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens was a significant 1744 French translation of an English work on the history of writing.

The Essai translated a section (book IV of volume 2) of The Divine Legation of Moses (from 1737) by William Warburton, thought by the original author to have value independent of his main religious thesis.

[1][2] The work of de Malpeines, the translator, appeared under the longer title Essai sur Les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens, où l'on voit l'origine et le progrès du langage et de l'écriture, l'antiquité des sciences en Égypte, et l'origine du culte des animaux.

[5] The notes to Essai itself discussed the views of Warburton and Samuel Shuckford on Chinese characters.

[11] In 1978 an edition of the Essai by Patrick Tort was published, in a volume including an introduction by Jacques Derrida.