W. Robertson | [Hebrew] The first gate or the outward door to the holy tongue opened in English, London, [1654]

From the Library of Clayre and Jay Michael Haft

William Robertson 

Sha'ar o Petach el Leshon Hakodesh [in Hebrew]. The first gate or the outward door to the holy tongue opened in English containing... the Hebrew grammar... London: Evan Tyler for Humphrey Robinson, [1654]

Second edition (with the double column text), small 8vo (144 x 88mm.), contemporary blind-stamped calf, rebacked, text leaves slightly browned at extremities, old ink stain to p. 5, extremities slightly rubbed

ONE OF THE EARLIEST COMPREHENSIVE HEBREW MANUALS PRINTED IN ENGLAND. Robertson was a "pedagogical revolutionary with an egalitarian message and a passionate and parenthetical style, [who] believed that Hebrew was not an esoteric language and that almost any man, given plain and careful instruction, could learn Hebrew even without the aid of a teacher... stressing the importance of reducing Hebrew words to their roots, and teaching the language by alphabetical principles rather than by scriptural texts" (ODNB).

LITERATURE:

cf. Wing R1612 (1653 edition)

PROVENANCE:

"Richard Hogwell, 1799": ownership inscription to verso of front free endpaper