From the printing office of St. John the Baptist at al-Shuwayr

[Biblia arabica - Psalmi]. Kitab al-Mazamir.

Dayr al-Shuwayr, Kisrawan, Lebanon, St. John the Baptist Monastery, 1839.

8vo. 354, (14) pp., wanting final blank. Contemporary blindstamped brown calf.

 4,500.00

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.

References

Not in Nasrallah.

Stock Code: BN#47606 Tags: ,