Early Sinhalese printing

Bronsveld, Sigisbertus Abrahamsz van. Catechismus, oft Onderweyzing in de christelicke Leere, die in de hervormde Kerken en Schoolen gleerd word [...] in de Tamulsche Spraak [...].

€ 18.500,00

First edition. Exceptionally rare Tamil translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, prepared by the Revd. Sigisbertus Abrahamsz van Bronsveld, printed and published in Colombo, Ceylon for the Tamil-speaking Protestant congregation there, for schools and for missionary work. A rare pioneering effort of the Ceylonese press and a milestone for missionary printing in Tamil, with overtones of colonial politics and the economic interests of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Comprises dedications to the leading officials of the VOC in Latin, Dutch and Tamil; the preface in Dutch and Tamil, and the main text entirely in Tamil.

Bronsveld (1723-69) was born in Colombo but studied theology at Leiden University, completing his dissertation on the salvation of the Indians in 1747. He returned to Colombo, working as minister of the church there from 1748 to his death. He was preaching in Tamil and Sinhalese by 1752. In that year he (and his wife) quarrelled with some who found him too critical of the translations made by others but not strict enough in enforcing religious rules. Together with two others, he was charged with the task of revising De Melho's Tamil psalms, but withdrew in 1753 to concentrate on his other duties. This no doubt gave him more time to work on his own translation of the catechism.

Rarely encountered in commerce, with only two copies in auction records. An early witness to the integration of South Asian typefounding into European missionary printing.