The first English-printed book in Arabic

Eutychius Said ibn Al-Batriq, Patriarch of Alexandria. Ecclesiae suae origines. Ex ejusdem Arabico nunc primum typis edidit ac versione & commentario auxit J. Seldenus.

London, Bishop, 1642.

4to. (2), XXXVIII, 184 pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With a woodcut in the text.

(Bound with) II: Hottinger, Johann Heinrich. Exercitationes Anti-Morinianae: De pentateucho Samaritano. Zurich, Bodmer, 1644. (20), 116 pp. Contemporary vellum.

 5,800.00

The first book in Arabic ever printed in England, some parts set in Arabic and Latin parallel text. "Partial edition of the Annals of the Melkite patriarch Said ibn Batriq as a polemic on the origin of the Alexandrian Church and the distinction between priests and bishops, to which Ecchellensis was to reply in extenso" (Smitskamp).

II: First edition of Hottinger's study on the Samaritan pentateuch, directed against the findings of the Oratorian Jean Morin.

Insignificant browning due to paper; altogether a fine copy.

References

I: Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 225. Graf II, 34. Schnurrer 171. Fück 86. Smitskamp 370 (with different imprint).

II: BM-STC H 1722. Fürst I, 414.

Stock Code: BN#33505 Tags: ,