The first book on Malayalam printed in Europe

[Peani, Clemente / Amaduzzi, Giovanni Cristoforo (ed.)]. Alphabetum grandonico-malabaricum sive samscrudonicum.

€ 2.800,00

First edition. The first type specimen of the Grantha or Malabar alphabet, now most frequently known as Malayalam. A prominent work from the Propaganda Fide series of grammars of oriental languages that appeared from 1629 until the early 19th century. Besides fulfilling her evangelical function for the church, the Congregatio also played an important role in the study and dissemination of non-Western languages, their Alphabeta series including studies of Burmese, Hindustani, Armenian, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, the Ethiopian Semitic languages (Ge'ez and Amharic) and Bulgarian. "The best known products of the Propaganda Press, apart from its missals, grammars, and dictionaries, are the Alphabeta" (Smitskamp 193).

The present grammar was edited by Giovanni Amaduzzi (1740-92) using types prepared by Clemente Peani (1731-82), a missionary and member of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide who had spent several years in Kerala devoting himself to his missionary work and the study of Malayalam. The "Alphabetum" is intended to teach aspiring missionaries the reading and writing of Malayalam, comprising numerous examples in Grantha script in the angular Travancore variety that is easily confused with the Tamil script, giving syllables, numerals, and an explanation of the particular characteristics of the writing system, concluding with translations of popular Catholic prayers and the Ten Commandments in Malayalam language and type.