Biblia 1. Hebraica. 2. Samaritana. 3. Chaldaica. 4. Graeca. 5. Syriaca. 6. Latina. 7. Arabica, quibus textus originales totius Scripturae Sacrae, quorum pars in editione Complutensi, deinde in Antuerpiensi regiis sumptibus extat... [edited by Guy Michel le Jay]. Paris: Antoine Vitré, 1629-1645, imperial folios.
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE COMPLETE SET OF THE IMPORTANT PARIS POLYGLOT BIBLE.
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The Paris Polyglot Bible (1629–1645), edited by Guy Michel Le Jay, is the third of the four great polyglot Bibles, alongside the Complutensian, Antwerp (Plantin), and London Polyglots. It was conceived as an expanded version of the Antwerp Polyglot, incorporating new texts and languages, notably including the first printed editions of the Syriac Old Testament, the Samaritan-Hebrew Pentateuch, and the Samaritan-Aramaic Targum, along with Arabic versions of the Old Testament. This is highly significant as this predates the editio princeps of the Bible in Arabic by several decades. Despite its grandeur and typographical excellence - requiring new typefaces in Aramaic, Samaritan, and Arabic, the project was plagued by delays, scholarly disputes, and financial troubles, being printed over a massive time span. Le Jay ultimately lost a fortune on the endeavour (100,000 crowns).
WorldCat records just 15 sets held institutionally (across two entries), and we can trace just 4 sets in private hands including this one, one of which is incomplete and lacks three volumes. Darlow & Moule's extensive bibliographical description of this set implies that over 600 of the sets of the Paris Polyglot ended up being sold as waste paper, and correspondingly, surviving sets are extremely scarce, certainly rarer than the Complutensian of which 123 copies are known to survive. Given that this set remains together and uniformly bound, it seems highly likely it stayed within monastic institutional ownership since purchase, probably in use by Benedictine monks.
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Provenance:
Early manuscript inscription of Brother Louis Denangy, presumed continual monastic ownership until acquired (or possibly re-acquired) by the below.
Recent (c.20th century) bookplate from the monastic library of Saint-Wandrille Abbey in France, a famous Benedictine monastery founded in the 8th century which was a renowned centre for philosophical and theological studies, but possibly in their ownership for an extended time prior to the bookplate’s placement.
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Size: 335 x 510 mm (approx., each)
*note the extremely large imperial folio format. This set weighs upwards of 100kg and is truly monumental in format.
Condition:
[(1), [14], [14], [8], 773pp., (1)]; [(1), 919pp., 1pp., (1)]; [(1), 548pp., 262pp., (2)]; [(1), 643pp., 58pp., 2pp., 58pp., 2pp., pp.59-227, 140pp., (1)]; [(1), 547pp., [2], (1)]; [(1), 791pp., 1pp., (2)]; [(1), 907pp., 1pp., (1)]; [(1), 771pp., 1pp., (1)]; [(1), 75pp., 64pp., 467pp., (1)]; [(1), 799pp., 1pp., 76pp., (1)]
Contemporary full calf, uniformly bound, with the spines very finely tooled in gilt in compartments between large raised bands. Highly ornate bindings, particularly given the immense imperial folio size. The bindings are rubbed with some losses to the leather, some minor historic restoration in places, but generally very attractive indeed on the shelf. All tooled labels are present, some very slightly chipped. Each volume has the letter 'A' written at the foot on a label, presumably a reference mark within a monastic library. Joints worn, some cracked, but with all boards securely attached. 9 volumes bound into 10 with book five divided across two volumes, as typically encountered. Shelf lean to some volumes, but the set stands when placed together. Extremely large format. The set includes four engraved maps and numerous woodcuts and some particularly fine engraved capitals of which the Hebrew ones are of particular note. Generally clean throughout the text blocks with some typical dampstaining throughout the volumes, not affecting the legibility of the text, generally in the bottom corner of the last third (or less) of the page blocks, sometimes with some commensurate very minor staining. Illegible ink stamp to main title accompanied with the letter A, demonstrative of institutional (monastic) ownership. Incredibly fine typography, as is highly praised by the bibliographers of this set. Textually collates as complete despite a very large number of mispaginations and errors in signatures throughout, such that in the pagination counts provided above, in some cases there are actually more pages than given, sometimes as much as 12pp more, but the concluding page number is given for brevity and ease to check against bibliographies. The text of all volumes has been fully checked and all pages are present through the main text. The preliminaries haven’t been formally compared against a bibliographic reference because of varying signatures in extant copies, but it appears to be complete through the preliminary sections, certainly all called for maps and illustrations are present. Volume one lacks one blank at the front. A few small closed tears in places, never affecting text. A few small ink stains/smudges, but this is from the printing process itself. A few contemporary very fine paper repairs, not affecting textual legibility but sometimes going through the text. 4D1 in volume four torn in lower corner with minor loss in blank marginal space only, not affecting text. A few inscriptions throughout relating to Monastic ownership inscriptions (in the same hand), but this set is free of marginalia. A few small blue ink stamps, one of the clearest is pictured. Bookplate to front pastedowns. Some heavier dampstaining to the first few leaves of volume eight and last leaves in bottom corner as with most of the volumes. Volume ten (I.e. nine) is the most affected by dampstaining and there is some throughout, though mostly very light, never affecting textual legibility, visible at page edges. All volumes have some degree of dampstaining but it is largely light and non-intrusive. However, the vast majority of the text throughout the set is in bright, fresh, and clean condition.
An incredible and immense set, currently the only obtainable example of this exceptionally rare and important Polyglot Bible.
[Darlow & Moule 1441; OCLC 4437194, 1836286].
