Translatio Syra Pescitto Veteris Testamenti Ex Codice Ambrosiano Sec. Fere VI Photolithographice Edita Curante Et Adnotante Sac. Obl. Antonio Maria Ceriani Praefecto Collegii Doctorum Bibliothecae Ambrosianae. Mediolani, MDCCCLXXVI, In Officinis Photolithographica Angeli Della Croce Et Typographia J. B. Pogliani Et Sociorum. Londini Apud Williams Et Norgate. Augustae Taurinorum Et Florentiae Apud Hermannum Loescher.
The Syriac Peshitta Translation of the Old Testament, Photolithographically Published From the Ambrosian Codex of About the Sixth Century, Edited and Annotated by the Reverend Oblate Antonio Maria Ceriani, Prefect of the College of Doctors of the Ambrosian Library. Milan, 1876, in the Photolithographic Workshops of Angelo Della Croce and in the Printing House of J. B. Pogliani and Company. London: at Williams and Norgate. Turin and Florence: at Hermann Loescher.
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FIRST EDITION of this monumental photolithographic facsimile of the (circa) sixth century Codex Ambrosianus of the Syriac Peshitta Old Testament, one of the foundational manuscripts of the Syriac biblical tradition and the principal base text for the modern critical Leiden Peshitta. It has huge proportions with each volume being over half a metre tall. Edited and annotated by Antonio Ceriani who was the leading Italian Syriac scholar of the nineteenth century, this project reproduced the codex leaf for leaf in high quality photolithography, providing scholars with direct visual access to one of the most important biblical manuscripts preserved in Europe.
The original codex itself is a remarkably early witness, generally dated to the late sixth or early seventh century, written in elegant Estrangela script and containing the entire Peshitta Old Testament, together with several notable apocryphal and parabiblical texts, including 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and the Syriac version of the Maccabean narrative attributed to Josephus. Ceriani’s edition was the first substantial photographic reproduction of a Syriac biblical manuscript and remains an essential scholarly reference. It is extremely rare on the market, and hence the availability of modern facsimiles of this 1876 facsimile. The immense size of the folios of this edition is of particular use for close study of the codex.
Bound by A. & J. Bolt. Bristol.
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Size: 515 x 378 mm (approx., each)
*note, very large
Condition:
Contemporary quarter morocco over pebbled cloth backed boards. Bindings rubbed with minor losses to leather in places, notably the extremities of the spines. All boards attached, some joints cracked, hinges reinforced. No attached bookplates. Pencil inscription to title leaf. A little foxing to page edges. There's a little bit of staining to the boards. Generally bright and clean throughout the text blocks. The signatures detail the recto and verso of the original codex. Volume one goes from 1r to 175v. Volume two goes from 176r to 330v, and there are 3 preliminary leaves in Latin in the first volume plus the main title leaf, to include a dedication, a donor's and subscriber's list, and a large 2pp. preface. Appears to be complete, including the dividing blanks, though without a title leaf for the second volume (as issued?).
