The first book printed in Ethiopic, in a 16th century German binding

[Biblia aethiopica - VT - Psalmi & Canticum Canticorum]. Psalterium David et cantica aliqua - Canticum canticorum [The Psalter and the Song of Songs in Ethiopic].

€ 48.000,00

A fine copy of the first book ever printed in Ge'ez, also "the first book to be printed in the West in an oriental language other than Hebrew, and the first psalter to be printed in a language other than Hebrew, Greek, or Latin" (Austern). Apart from the Psalter, it contains the Song of Solomon as well as Biblical hymns and prayers.

In his preface, the editor Johannes Potken, provost of St George's Church at Cologne, describes "how he had heard Ethiopian strangers in Rome reciting sacred hymns, in which he recognized the names of the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles and certain saints. Aroused by curiosity he determined to learn Ethiopic - which he calls 'lingua Chaldea' - and eventually succeeded in mastering enough of the language to enable him to publish this edition in the native character" (Darlow/M.).

This is the first book printed in Ethiopic, using a specially made font to correspond to the Ethiopic syllabary. Remarkably, Potken’s manuscript source can be identified as an Ethiopic Psalter in the Vatican Library; the original record showing it was loaned to Potken on 28 October 1511 is also preserved there. Potken espoused a private theory that Ethiopic was in fact Chaldaic (Aramaic); he was not dissuaded by the fact, which he acknowledged, that the Jews of Rome were unable to understand the Ethiopians. He also relates that he had been interested in this mysterious part of the world since hearing stories of Prester John in his childhood. In 1518, after his return to Cologne, Potken had the Ethiopic Psalter reprinted, this time as part of a four-language edition that included Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The font is apparently the same as that of the present edition, abeit in a considerably worn state.

Rare in the trade: only three other copies in auction records since 1958.