Bible in Ethiopic. New Testament

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 USD

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Description

[Teaatamentum Novum cum Epistola Pauli ad Hebreos tantum, cum concordantiis Evangelistarum Eusebii et numeratione omnium verborum eorundem. Missale cum benedictione incensi cerae etc. Alphabetum in lingua … gheez … quae omnia Fr. Petrus Ethyops auxilio piorum sedente Paulo III Pont. Max. et Claudio illius regni Imperatore imprimi curavit. Rome: Valerius and Ludovicus Doricus for P. Comos, 1548]
leather,ink,paper

4to (9 1/8 x 6 1/2 in.; 232 x 165mm). Printed in red and black in double columns in Ethiopic thgroughout, opening pages of the four Gospels and other books printed within woodcut borders of strip ornament sometimes printed in red, 7 half-page woodcuts of biblical scenes, 7 woodcut vignettes of angels and archangels; lacks the first six leaves, minimal wear, generally a clean, attractive copy. Contemporary limp vellum, with remains of ties. Buckram clamshell case.

Provenance

Dr. Bent Juel-Jensen (booklabel in Ethiopic) — Professor Löfgren, Swedish Ethiopic scholar (library sold to Brill, Leiden)

Literature

Darlow & Moule 3562; Fumagalli, Bibliografia etiopica 1257 ("straordinariamente rara")

Catalogue Note

First edition of the New Testament in Ethiopic. Presentation copy from the principal editor, Tesfa Tsion, to a fellow countryman, Tsewa Dengel. the presentation inscription in Ge'ez on the front flyleaf reads, "This book I causes to be printed, I, Tesfa Tsion, son of Abune Tekle Haymanot of Dabra Libanos. I give it to my brother Tsewa Dengel whom I love from the root of my heart. There are many errors in it. Those who printed it are ignorant of our Book [i.e., language] — that is why they have made so many mistakes." There are several contemporary textual corrections in ink, presumably by Tesfa Tsion himself.

The present work was edited by three Abyssinian monks of the monastery of Dabra Libanos who fled their country during the Muslim devastations then raging: the aforementioned Tesfa Tsion (Hope-of-Sion), Tensea Waldus (Resurrection-of-the-Son) and Zaslaskus (He-of-the-Trinity). The three found refuge in the monastery of St. Stefano in rome. Tesfa Tsion, the most senior of the three, was well-educated and attained considerable fame. His New Testament text gained a dominant position in the study of the Ethiopic Gospels.

Some copies contain all 12 preliminary leaves, but the first six, comprising dedications in Latin and Ethiopic and an alphabet, were never present here. Perhaps the editor presented the copy to Tsewa Dengel before they were ready. The second part, comprising the Pauline espstles, was not printed until the following year and is thus found only in a few copies.

Rare. OCLC records just three copies in the U.S. (Illinois, the Newberry Librrary and the NYPL, the first and last also without the second part).