Rare Syriac reader

Sciadrensis (al-Shedrawi), Isaac. Rudimentum Syriacum.

€ 4,500.00

First edition: an extremely rare reader of Syriac religious texts, prefaced with an explanation of the alphabet. "The work is in Syriac with a Latin index at the end. The reader includes biblical passages, prayers from printed and manuscript Syriac sources or translated from the Latin psalms, passages from the Maronite Breviary and a hymn of St Ephrem. It concludes with a plate of the arms of Paul V acknowledging his patronage. It is clearly aimed at Maronite student beginners in the College" (Wilkinson, p. 233). Many years later, in 1636, the author would publish "the first substantial grammar of Syriac in Syriac" (Smitskamp 192).

Ishaq al-Shedrawi, originally from Hasrun in northern Lebanon, came to Rome in 1603 to study oriental languages at the Maronite College. "With Johannes Hesronita he was one the of the interpreters who acted between the Holy See and the Oriental Church. He was appointed Bishop of Tripolis, but returned three more times to Europe" (Smitskamp). "Ishaq al-Shedrawi was called by Cardinal Borromeo to teach Syriac and Arabic at the Academy of Milan, and he was also charged with organising and arranging the oriental manuscripts in the Cardinal's library. After Milan, Isaac Sciadrensis went to Florence and Pisa to teach oriental languages between 1636 and 1638. He died in Lebanon in 1663" (Abouzayd, p. 742).

A single copy in auction records.