3 008 résultats
8vo. VII, (1), 334 pp., final blank leaf (p. 48 misnumbered "84"). With woodcut illustrations on p. 316 (X6v, showing ostrich and peacock-feather fans). Sumptuous 19th century red grained morocco binding, spine gilt, gilt cover rules and inner dentelle, leading edges gilt. All edges gilt. The unauthorized first edition, first issue (with misnumbered page 48). This original edition, claiming to be translated directly from Arabic, appeared without the name of the author, also omitting from the title the name under which the work would later be known internationally. - Although often classified as an early Gothic novel, "Vathek" is more truly an oriental tale, describing the experience and rewards of succumbing to temptation, and closely reflecting the "foolish, fantastic, egotistical life" of the author who began writing the story in French in January 1782. Despite the fact that Samuel Henley's translation, and the elaborate notes which he provided for the book, were undertaken with his friend Beckford's approval, its publication was contrary to the author's express wishes: Beckford had clearly intended to bring out the French edition first, but his wife had died in Switzerland on 18 May 1786, and though the book was published by Joseph Johnson on 7 June, he was still unaware of its existence by late August. Copies were priced at 4 shillings or 7s. 6d. on large paper, and have the running title of "The History of the Caliph Vathek". Even though Beckford published French editions in Lausanne (December 1786, dated "1787") and Paris (1787), the novel only became well known some thirty years later when Byron declared it to be his Bible. - Provenance: From the library of John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey (1840-1929), at Bignor Park, Sussex (his bookplate to front pastedown and ink ownership to flyleaf). Subsequently in the library of the American publisher and collector A(lfred) Edward Newton (1864-1940), whose collection was auctioned by Parke-Bernet in 1941 (bookplate). Later acquired by the American lawyer and collector Robert S. Pirie (1934-2015), a prominent member of the Grolier Club, whose library was dispersed by Sotheby's in December 2015 (his bookplate to front flyleaf). - With the final blank Y8, which is often absent. Occasional light brownstains, but in all an excellent copy, beautifully bound and with fine provenance. ESTC T62055. Rothschild 352. G. Chapman, Bibliography of William Beckford, pp. 22f, i. Summers 543. Garside/Raven/Schöwerling 1786:15. OCLC 1636740.
2 stereoscopic images, c. 80 x 80 mm each, mounted on cardboard (177 x 88 mm) with printed captions. The portrait shows the seventy-odd-year-old Sheikh, wearing numerous medals on his burnous, before a door. Significantly superior specimen compared to the only other known set, that in the Keystone-Mast Collection of stereoscopic views in the California Museum of Photography.
Large 4to. All 31 issues, comprising a total of 774 pp. (some lithographic, others published as a typescript, but mostly letterpress), preserving the original printed wrappers. With 2 folding plans. Bound in 1920s green half calf over marbled boards. Rare collection of the annual reports published by the administrative board of the Beirut Port holding company: the complete stretch from 1889 (when work on the harbour began) to 1922. - Even since the 1860s, the old harbour of Beirut, 150 by 100 metres in length and a mere two metres deep, was rapidly becoming too small for the ever-expanding volume of traffic. In 1887 a consortium was formed of the Compagnie Impériale Ottomane de la Route Beyrouth à Damas, the Ottoman Bank, the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris, the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, and the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes. Reincorporated as the Paris-based "Compagnie Impériale Ottomane du Port, des Quais et Entrepôts de Beyrouth", they obtained a concession from the Porte in 1888, and construction was completed in 1895. "The new harbor, located further to the east, provided deeper anchorage (two to six meters) next to an 800-meter-long pier running almost parallel to the coast and protected by a breakwater 350 meters long. The dock area covered twenty-one hectares, with vast warehouses whose metal cladding had been designed by Gustave Eiffel" (Kassir, p. 119). Located at the intersection of Europe, Asia and Africa, Beirut quickly became one of the principal ports between Europe and the Near East. Trade was hampered during the years of the First World War, but Beirut still received "more ships than any other port along the Syrian coast" (ibid., p. 122). - The first seven reports, covering the building phase, from 1889 to 1894, are printed as lithographs; from 1895 onwards they are letterpress, providing a full account of assets and liabilities, profits and losses, and resolutions adopted by the board, accompanied by extensive sets of tables. The publication was interrupted only in the war years, when the company was temporarily dispossessed, for which time the present volume instead contains a "Historique" and a "Memorandum", both published as typescripts. The series was resumed in 1921. - This collection bound for the "Banque de Syrie et du Liban" with their bookplate on the pastedown. Binding rubbed and chafed, but internally a very well-preserved set. Cf. Samir Kaffir, Beirut (UCA, 2010).
8vo. (2), XVI, 512 pp. With engraved title vignette, folding engr. map, and 4 engr. plates. Contemporary half calf with remains of spine labels. First edition, conceived as a continuation of Bergk's volume on Egypt. This copy includes the frequently lacking half-title "Aegypten. Erste Fortsezzung, enthaltend Arabien und Syrien [...]". - The map shows Syria; the plates depict Arabic costumes, household tools, and views of Haleb and Palmyra. The title vignette shows Mt. Sinai. Also discusses the history , topography, climate, illnesses etc. of the Arabian Peninsula (with chapters on the Nejd, Arabia Felix and Yemen, etc.) - Extremeties rubbed and bumped; some spine defects. Interior somewhat browned as usual. Contemp. ms. ownership "Ernst Hanns Dönig" on front flyleaf. Kayser I, 32. Holzmann/B. I, 2892. Hamberger/Meusel XXII/1, 216. OCLC 257668994. Not in Macro, Atabey or Blackmer.
8vo. XVI, 512 pp. With engraved title vignette, folding engraved map, and 4 engraved plates. Contemporary marbled boards. All edges red. First edition, conceived as a continuation of Bergk's volume on Egypt. The map shows Syria; the plates depict Arabic costumes, household tools, and views of Haleb, Mecca, and Medina. The title vignette shows Mt. Sinai. Also discusses the history , topography, climate, illnesses etc. of the Arabian Peninsula (with chapters on the Nejd, Arabia Felix and Yemen, etc.). - Some browning. From the library of the Kalksburg Jesuit college with their shelfmark label on pastedown. Kayser I, 32. Holzmann/B. I, 2892. Hamberger/Meusel XXII/1, 216. OCLC 257668994. Not in Macro, Atabey or Blackmer.
8vo. (6), 230 pp. (without terminal blank). Title within double rules, added ruling in red. 18th-century (probably English) gilt-tooled red half morocco, contrasting morocco lettering-piece, blue paper boards. A rare London-printed Arabic translation of the Psalms of David by 'Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki, taken from the revised and corrected edition published at Aleppo by Athanasius, Patriarch of Antioch, in 1706. For this SPCK edition marginal notes, the Decalogue and Lords Prayer have been added. - This work, which represents the first separate British edition of the Psalms in Arabic, was printed by Samuel Palmer (1692-1732), prepared for the press by Sulaiman Ibn-Ya'qub as-Saliliyani, with a new Arabic font produced by a young William Caslon. The project was beset with difficulties: conceived in 1720, it took five years to come to fruition. The intention, as is printed in the preface of "An extract of several letters relating to the great charity and usefulness of printing the New Testament and Psalter in the Arabick language" (London, 1725), was to "preserve and propagate the Christian Faith among our Brethren in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and other Eastern Countries from whence we first received it". - As William Brown notes "the whole impression, consisting of upwards of six thousand copies, was sent abroad, so that a copy of it is now rarely to be seen" (The History of Missions or, Of the Propagation of Christianity Among the Heathen, Since the Reformation. Philadelphia, 1816). Darlow/Moule enumerates the impression more exactly to 6,250 copies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the work's intended use, ESTC locates copies at just four British libraries (BL, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Oxford), two in Europe (Berlin State Library and the Dutch State Library), and a single location in North America (General Theological Seminary). - A trifle rubbed and marked, else a handsome copy with occasional marginal notes in pencil, marking to margins. Darlow/Moule 1654. ESTC T154998 (with erroneous pagination).
Folio. 368 pp. With 149 large woodcuts. Contemporary paper wrappers. Rare first edition of the Gospels in Arabic; the first work to be issued from the Medicean Press, directed by G. B. Raimondi. Printed in Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type and appears here for the first time. Apart from the Latin title and colophon, the book is in Arabic throughout. Also in 1591 an Arabic-Latin edition was issued, more common than the present one and reprinted in 1619 and 1774. Illustrated with 149 large woodcuts from 67 blocks by Leonardo Parasole after Antonio Tempesta. - Some browning and waterstaining throughout; a few marginal tears. Untrimmed in the original temporary wrappers as issued. The Hauck copy commanded $75,000 at Sotheby's in 2006. Adams B 1822. Mortimer 64. Darlow/Moule 1636. Fück 54. Schnurrer 318. Smitskamp 374.
Large 8vo. (4), 352 pp. Contemporary calf (spine rebacked). A reprint of the Roman Bible of 1671, already reissued thus by British and Foreign Bible Society in the previous year. The Society adopted this text at the suggestion of the Syrian Archbishop of Jerusalem. - Some browning and edge chipping. Binding rubbed and bumped (professionally repaired, with loss to corners). Darlow/Moule 1667. OCLC 38586842.
Folio (213 x 322 mm). (4), 316 pp. Parts printed in red and black. With numerous ornamental lines and several woodcut tailpieces. Modern half calf. "The Evangelion of the Greek Church, containing the Gospels arranged for liturgical reading throughout the year" (Darlow/M.). From the printing office of the monastery of St. John the Baptist at Shuwair in the Lebanon, which was operative between 1734 and 1899 (cf. Silvestre de Sacy I, pp. 412-414; Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter, Westhofen 2002, pp. 179-181). Particularly remarkable in this present publication is the typographic decor: all pages are framed by double rules; new sections of text are headed with an ornamental line of floral elements across the entire page width, and numerous pages show smaller figural endpieces (roses, baskets, crosses, as well as the Virgin with the Child Jesus) - a charming juxtaposition of simple woodcuts showing floral and geometrical decor familiar from the Hebrew prints produced in 19th-century Palestine with the more elaborate products "à la italienne". - Some occasional worming, browning and brownstaining. Schnurrer 360. Darlow/Moule 1661.
8vo. (4), 78 pp. - (Bound with) II: Epistola ad Hebraeos arabice. Ibid., 1742. (4), 54 pp. - (Bound with) III: [Acta apostolorum arabice. Ibid., 1742.] 192 pp. (lacking title pages). - (Bound with) IV: [Summula historiae sacrae Arabice. Ibid., 1737]. (2), 26 (instead of 28) pp. (Arabic title only; lacking final leaf of text). In a single appealing 19th-century half calf binding with marbled boards; spine lettered in gilt. All edges yellow. Collection of rare Arabic versions of several parts of the New Testament: St Paul's Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as the Acts of the Apostles (with the Latin and Arabic title pages in facsimiles) and a brief synopsis of the Sacred History, for the benefit of Muslim readers (lacking the final leaf). Edited by the German oriental scholar and Lutheran theologian J. H. Callenberg (1694-1760), a champion of the Protestant mission among Jews and Muslims, and published at his own printing office. - In Arabic throughout. Well preserved. All very rare. Cf. Jöcher/Adelung II, 39ff.
8vo. 354, (14) pp., wanting final blank. Contemporary blindstamped brown calf. Rare Psalter from the printing office of the Melkite monastery of St. John the Baptist at al-Shuwayr in the Lebanese Kisrawan mountains, operative between 1734 and 1899, during which time it produced in all 69 Arabic books, including re-editions (cf. Silvestre de Sacy I, pp. 412-414; Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter, Westhofen 2002, pp. 179-181). Nasrallah counts 15 editions of the Psalter alone, the last (produced in 1899, the only as-Shuwayr Psalter in the Aboussouan collection) constituting the swan-song of that important press. "Le Psautier a longtemps été le livre classique unique des écoles d'Orient. Cela nous explique pourquoi il fut si souvent édité" (Nasrallah, p. 38). - Binding a little rubbed; some light browning and brownstaining (mainly confined to margins). A good copy. Not in Nasrallah.
8vo. (16), 220, (12) pp. With full-page woodcut illustration at the end of the preliminaries. Contemporary blindstamped calf over wooden boards with two clasps. Exceptionally rare Arabic Psalter, the first of several reprintings of 'Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki's translation which had first appeared in Aleppo in 1706. Translated from the Greek Septuaginta Version, with the kathismata interspersed between the Psalms and with the Canticles following them. Edited, with a Paschalion for the years 1709-39 at the end, by Philipp Ghailán. - Only two copies known in institutional collections; collation agrees with that of the British Library copy (Biblioteca Marciana collation omits 116 pp. of preliminary matter). Binding professionally repaired; noticeable worming, mainly confined to margins. Some browning throughout; slight waterstaining near end. A few early 19th century inked notes in Hebrew. Provenance: 18th-century bookplate "Ex bibliotecha Johannis Marchioni Plebani Veneti" on final endpaper. Darlow/Moule I, 1653 (note). BL shelfmark: Asia, Pacific & Africa 14501.a.31. Marciana shelfmark: 133-C-176. OCLC 945484585 (digital reproduction only).
4to. (16), 458, (2) pp. With the title in a woodcut architectural frame. Contemporary vellum. "First printing of the Pentateuch in Arabic characters" (Smitskamp). Edited by Thomas Erpenius and printed with his influential nashk Arabic types, cut under his direction by Arent Corsz. Hogenacker in Leiden. It gives the text of a 13th-century translation of the Pentateuch in the Maghreb dialect (spoken in Mauritania). Erpenius was one of the most distinguished orientalists and by far the best Arabist of his day. He published an influential Arabic grammar and several excellent critical editions. His own private printing office, equipped with Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Turkish type, produced its first works as early as 1615. - With bookplate, owner's inscription and library stamp of Verplanck Colvin (1847-1920). Occasional spots, some leaves with a minor waterstain in the upper or lower margin, nor affecting the text. A good copy, with generous margins. Binding slightly soiled and with a restoration to the front inner hinge, but otherwise good. Breugelmans 1622-2. Darlow/Moule 1645. Smitskamp, PO 86.
4to. (8), 474, (8) pp. Title page printed in red and black. Contemporary vellum with ms. title to spine. Edges sprinkled in red. Second edition of Savary's Arabic Psalter; more precisely, a re-issue of the 1614 original edition, with only the title changed and the remaining pages re-used from the first. Prepared by two Maronite scholars, Nasrallah Salaq al-'Aquri, better known as Victorius Scialac Accurensis, and Gabriel Sionita. "Scialac was one of the first Oriental Christian scholars who by his publications furthered the causes of both European Orientalism and Oriental Christianity. He taught Arabic and Syriac in the Roman University from 1610 to 1631" (Smitskamp, p. 161). The publication is famous for the clarity and elegance of its typeface created by Savary de Brèves: the extensive vocalisation helped this handy quarto volume achieve immense popularity among oriental scholars throughout Europe. Formerly it was assumed that the type design was based on specimens Savary had seen during his time as French envoy at Constantinople; today his probable model is believed to be a calligraphical manuscript from Qannubin, preserved in the Bibliotheca Vaticana. The cutting and founding of the types were done in Rome, in collaboration with Stefano Paolini, an experienced printer formerly of the Typographia Medicea. The Psalms' text is based on a manuscript Savary de Brèves had bought in Jerusalem (cf. Balagna, L’imprimerie arabe en occident, p. 55f.); as it occasionally departs from the Vulgate (as does the translation by the Maronites Sionita and Scialac), an extensive imprimatur was necessary. - The Arabic-Latin Psalter (1614/19) and Bellarmin's Arabic catechism (1613) would remain the only works to leave the Typographia Savariana in Rome; the types have survived and are now in the archives of the Imprimerie Nationale in Paris. - Occasional paper flaws professionally restored; insignificant brownstaining in places. A good copy. Darlow/Moule 1643. Schnurrer 324 (note) & p. 505. Ebert 18088 (note). Brunet IV, 921 (note). STC 108. Cf. Smitskamp 33. Fück 56.
Small folio (218 x 290 mm). 2 pts. in 1 vol. 688 pp. Near-contemporary half vellum with red label to gilt spine. New edition of the text published in 1671 in the Propaganda College's three-volume Arabic-Latin Bible, which is considered the editio princeps of the complete Bible in Arabic (disregarding the Paris and London polyglots). The version was prepared over a period of many years by Philip Guadagnolo and revised by Louis Maracci. First received with hesitation, it "eventually won general acceptance among Arabic-speaking Christians" (Darlow/M. 1652). Edited by Raphael Tuki, Bishop of Arsinoe, this present edition (usually issued in two volumes but here bound in one) contains the books of Genesis through Nehemiah and Tobit only. - Occasional worming to margins, otherwise a good, well-preserved copy. OCLC cites eight copies worldwide, none in America. Darlow/Moule 1660. OCLC 398605651.
Large 4to (ca. 220 x 272 mm). (4), (306), (98) ff. Original blindstamped full calf over heavy boards with rubbed remains of gilt border. First edition. Arabic text (without vowel points) throughout, save for the English title-page. "This edition, produced under the patronage of the Bishop of Durham (Shute Barrington), was at first undertaken by Joseph Dacre Carlyle (1759-1806), Cambridge Professor of Arabic in 1795, and vicar of Newcastle in 1801. On Carlyle's death Henry Ford, Lord Almoner Reader in Arabic at Oxford, took up the work, and saw the book through the press in 1811. The text is based, apparently, on the London Polyglot. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts contributed £250 for 1000 copies to be distributed in Africa and Asia. The British and Foreign Bible Society also gave £250, and in addition purchased, or received for distribution, over 1000 copies" (Darlow/M.). - Binding rubbed, front hinge professionally repaired. Undecorated spine shows traces of a removed library label. Old ink shelfmarks and stamp of Grüssau Abbey at Bad Wimpfen's St Peter's Church on verso of title-page. Handwritten ownership of "Eug. Breitling, parochus in Hamburg" (dated 1909) and note "Left by the wish of the Rev. A. Lehmann" at the end. Darlow/Moule II, 1663. OCLC 165689213.
4to. 45, (1) pp. With printer's device to title page. Modern half calf. Sole edition: "Extremely rare. The last of three small New Testament portions issued in Arabic by the Raphelengius press" (Smitskamp). Anonymously edited by Thomas Erpenius as a specimen of his planned polyglot Bible. "Erpenius had a special interest in the text of the Bible, and also published the Syriac version. He aimed at editing a corpus embodying all the variants which could be gleaned from the Oriental versions, but his premature death at the age of forty put an end to these plans" (Smitskamp 80). - 1833 ownership "John Williams" to title page. Slight waterstain throughout the upper third, otherwise fine. Smitskamp 279. Not in Darlow/Moule.
Folio (242 x 342 mm). 19-442, 447-450 and 455-456 pp., with pp. 9-18, 443-446 and 451-454, 457-462 and the final leaf supplied in 18th-century manuscript. With 138 (instead of 149) text woodcuts by Leonardo Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. 19th-century half cloth with marbled covers. The first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. The work begins with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.); these first eight pages were not supplied until the 1619 re-issue. The present copy lacks the first five leaves and eight leaves at the end, all of which have been supplied in Latin and Arabic manuscript by an 18th century hand. Occasional browning; some worming to gutter (occasionally touching text as well as woodcuts); severe edge defects to the first few printed leaves; final printed leaves remargined; several severely duststained. Darlow/Moule 1637. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138.
Folio (260 x 366 mm). (4), 9-462, (2) pp. Title-page printed in red and black, with the Medici arms. With 149 text woodcuts by L. N. Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. Contemporary Italian flexible boards with ms. title to spine. The rare first re-issue, with new preliminary matter only, of the first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. As issued in 1591, the work began with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.). The 1619 re-issue contains 4 pages of preliminary matter (title page and a note "typographus lectori"); there exist copies with two additional leaves of dedications not present here. Another re-issue, much more common, was released in 1774. - Occasional browning; a good, untrimmed and hence wide-margined copy in its original temporary binding. Darlow/Moule 1643. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138.
Folio (242 x 346 mm). (8), 9-462, (2) pp. With 149 text woodcuts by L. N. Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. Half vellum binding (c. 1900) with marbled boards. Re-issue, with new preliminary matter only, of the first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version: the first work ever produced by the Typographia Medicea, founded by Pope Gregory XIII for spreading the word of Christ in the Orient and supervised by the oriental scholar G. B. Raimondi. The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type. An Arabic-only version was produced at the same time. - Binding somewhat bumped; hinges beginning to split; interior variously browned in places. Removed from the library of the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia with their stamps and ms. dedication by the Roman Congregatio de Propaganda on front pastedown. Darlow/Moule 1637 & 1643. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138.
Folio (220 x 334 mm). 9-462, (2) pp. With 149 text woodcuts by Leonardo Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. Early 20th century half vellum. The first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. The work begins with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.); these first eight pages were not supplied until the 1619 re-issue. - Light browning as common; a light waterstain to the margin of the first leaves, but a good, fairly wide-margined copy. Provenance: handwritten ownership "C. R. Lies" (?), dated Rome, 1931, on upper pastedown; later bookplate of Guy Evans. Darlow/Moule 1637. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138. Ebert 7198. Graesse II, 531. Nagler XX, 326. Not in Adams.
4to. (8), 474, (6) pp. With two woodcut coats of arms on t. p. and at the end. Late 19th century half calf. First edition of this adaptation of the Psalms, set in Arabic-Latin parallel text. Printed in some 3000 copies, most of which were used for a 1619 re-issue with only the title page changed. Famous for the clarity and elegance of the typeface created by Savary de Brèves: the extensive vocalisation helped this handy quarto volume achieve immense popularity among oriental scholars throughout Europe. Formerly it was assumed that the type design was based on specimens Savary had seen during his time as French envoy at Constantinople; today his probable model is believed to be a calligraphical manuscript from Qannubin, preserved in the Bibliotheca Vaticana. The cutting and founding of the types were done in Rome, in collaboration with Stefano Paolini, an experienced printer formerly of the Typographia Medicea. The Psalms' text is based on a manuscript Savary de Brèves had bought in Jerusalem (cf. Balagna, L’imprimerie arabe en occident, p. 55f.); as it occasionally departs from the Vulgate (as does the translation by the Maronites Sionita and Scialac), an extensive imprimatur was necessary. - Bellarmin's Arabic catechism and the Arabic-Latin Psalter would remain the only works to leave the Typographia Savariana in Rome; the types have survived and are now in the archives of the Imprimerie Nationale in Paris. - From the library of the Biblical scholar Samuel Davidson (1806-98) with his ms. ownership to title page; binding slightly bumped, but a fine copy altogether. STC 108. Darlow/Moule 1641. Lüthi 198. Smitskamp 33. Schnurrer 324 & p. 500-506. Fück 56. Ebert 18088. Brunet IV, 921.
Folio (256 x 370 mm). (36), 431, (15) pp., final blank f. With printer's device to title page, woodcut headpiece and four half-page woodcuts of the Evangelists. Printed in red and black throughout. Contemporary paper boards. The Maronite edition of the Gospels in Syriac and Carshuni (following the Roman Arabic Bible of 1671), including the Peshitta text. Edited by Faustus Naironus Banensis and Josephus Banesius for use as a service-book in Maronite churches and dedicated to Cardinal Barberini, this was published as the first volume of the "Novus Testamentum Syriacum, et Arabicum". - Some browning and occasional foxing, marginal waterstaining near beginning. Chapter and verse numbers supplied in the margins in ink by a late-18th century owner. An untrimmed, wide-margined copy in the original temporary boards as issued. Very scarce. Schnurrer 338. Darlow/Moule 1742 & 8968. OCLC 254265613.
4to. (328) pp., final blank leaf. Title page within woodcut borders. Contemporary calf (spine rebacked). Arabic and Coptic Psalter as issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Arabic text reprinted from the Risius-Guadagnolo-Ecchellensi-Maracci 1671 Rome edition of the Arabic Bible. The Coptic may be a reprint of the 1744 Rome Coptic-Arabic Psalter edited by Raphael Tuki (cf. Roper/Tait, Coptic Typography, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution [2002], p. 119). - Evenly browned throughout. Punched library ownerships ("Philadelphia Divinity School") and ballpoint shelfmark; old catalogue slip and pouch inserted loosely, with bookplate of the "Library of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia". Contemporary bookseller's label (Dondey-Dupré, Paris) to front pastedown. Darlow/Moule 1673 & 3095. OCLC 123078021.
Folio (binding 250 x 335 mm, inner book 236 x 327 mm). 200 leaves, complete. Title printed in red and black within woodcut arabesque border, printer's device on final leaf. With parallel text in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chaldaean (in their respective types), 4 columns to a page, 41 lines. 13 woodcut floriated initials (5 Latin, 4 Hebrew, 2 Greek and 2 Arabic). Rebound in near contemporary brown calf, carefully restored, edges and corners repaired, spine fully rebacked in seven compartments with modern gilt title and date. First edition. - The first polyglot edition of any part of the Bible, and also the first polyglot work ever published. It is of the utmost importance in several further respects, constituting the second book printed in Arabic from movable type (following Gregorio de Gregorii's "Kitab salat as-sawa'i", a Horologion for the Lebanese Melchites, printed in 1514), as well as the earliest Arabic printing of any portion of the Bible. It also contains the first edition of the Aramaic text of the Psalter and offers for the first time Kabbalistic texts from the Zohar. Furthermore, Giustiniani’s commentary provides the first substantial biographical reference to Columbus, and is thus noted as an Americanum. - The learned Dominican Agostino Giustiniani (1470-1536) was Bishop of Nebbio in Corsica from 1514 and later became the first Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at Paris. On his death he bequeathed his extensive library to the state of Genoa. He edited, supervised and financed the present edition and also wrote the commentary. - His book is the first multilingual edition of any part of the Bible. Aldus Manutius had planned a Psalter in three languages as early as the late 15th century, but his project was not realised. Printed in eight parallel columns on double pages, Giustiniani’s work comprises the text in Hebrew, a literal Latin translation thereof, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, Arabic, Aramaic (Chaldee), a literal Latin translation from the Aramaic, and scholia in the same languages. While Giustiniani aimed to edit the entire Bibel in this form, no further sections were published. He described his difficulties in selling the edition in his History of Genoa (1537), recording an edition size of 2,000 paper copies and 50 copies on vellum. - Giustiniani’s extensive commentary includes a long note to Ps. 19:4 ("et in fines orbis omnia verba eorum"; C7r-D1r), about the Genoese Christopher Columbus, who had died in 1506, containing previously unpublished information on his second voyage: "In this interesting sketch of the life and voyages of his fellow-townsman, Bishop Giustiniani gives an interesting account of the discovery of the new world, and states some facts not mentioned elsewhere" (Sabin). - This edition is also the only book printed at Genoa in the 16th century. The Milanese printer Pietro Paulo Porro maintained a press at Turin with his brother Galeazzo. Giustiniani summoned Porro to Genoa especially for the production of this edition, and had set up a press in the house of his brother Nicolo Giustiniani Paulo. The types were designed and cut for this edition under Porro’s direction. - Mild browning throughout, with some occasional waterstaining (more pronounced near beginning). Adams B 1370. Darlow/Moule 1411, 1634 & 2401. Smitskamp, PO, 236. Alden-Landis 516/4. Harrisse, BAV no. 88 (pp. 154-158). Sabin 66468. Sander 5957. G. Roper, Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129-150, at p. 132, with colour ill. IV. StCB 25. Vinograd Genoa 1.