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The Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament from the famous Antwerp Polyglot

ARIAS MONTANUS, Benito (editor).

Novum testamentum Graecum.
[Geneva], Petrus de la Rouière, 1619.
With: (2) PAGNINI, Sante (translator) and Benito ARIAS MONTANUS (editor). Biblia Hebraica eorundem Latina interpretatio ...
[Geneva], Petrus de la Rouière, 1618.2 works in 1 volume, both in 4 parts. Folio. With numerous decorated woodcut initials and woodcut headpieces, the work is printed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew type. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum with remnants of closing ties, red gauffered edges. [8], 271, [1 blank], [50], [2 blank], [4], 70, [2 blank], 167, [1 blank]; 183, [1], 283, [1 blank], 84, 203, [1 blank] pp.

€ 8,500

Scarce later edition of the famous Antwerp Polyglot, in a beautiful contemporary binding. The present work contains the New Testament with the Apocrypha in Greek, and the Old Testament in Hebrew, both with an interlinear Latin translation. The Greek work starts at the beginning of the volume and the Hebrew at the end. The Greek work is also supplemented with a correction of the Vulgate. The present edition is quite scarce, as we have only been able to find one other copy in sales records of the past hundred years which contains both the Greek and Hebrew parts.
Benito Arias Montanus (1527-1598) was a polymath and one of the most learned Oriental scholars of his time. In the 1560's, he was summoned to Antwerp by King Philip II of Spain to assist Christopher Plantin with his ambitious plan to print a polyglot Bible in five languages (Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, Syriac, and Latin). The work, titled Biblia sacra Hebraice, Chaldaice, Graece, & Latine, was printed in 8 volumes between 1568 and 1572, and required multiple linguists for proofreading. Although the texts were primarily based on the Complutensian Polyglot (1517), the linguists also carefully consulted many manuscripts, printed works, and notes by various scholars to create the best possible translations. Arias Montanus was responsible for the Latin, Greek, and Chaldean parts, but also revised every section of the work before it passed to the printers. Since the finished work was very expensive, it did not sell well, so Plantin never published a second edition of the whole work. He did, however, print another edition of just volume 7 in 1584, which contained the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. The present work is a reissue of this edition.
With the bookplate of German auctioneer and book dealer H. G. Gutekunst (ca. 1865-1910) mounted on the front pastedown, an ownership's stamp and annotation on the recto of the first free flyleaf, and a contemporary annotation on the title page. The vellum is somewhat soiled and rubbed, affecting the clarity of the blind-tooling on the front board, the corners of the boards have been restored with later vellum. The end papers are slightly foxed, some of the leaves are slightly frayed. Otherwise in good condition. Ad 1: Darlow and Moule 4667; USTC 1508066, 6702525 (2 copies); cf. Darlow and Moule 1422 (Antwerp polyglot); Ad 2: Darlow and Moule 5117; USTC 6700273 (3 copies). Ad 1: Darlow and Moule 4667; USTC 1508066, 6702525 (2 copies); cf. Darlow and Moule 1422 (Antwerp polyglot); Ad 2: Darlow and Moule 5117; USTC 6700273 (3 copies).

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