Author: [PROPAGANDA FIDE - ALPHABETA].
Title: [Alphabets of non-Latin scripts, including Hebrew, Samaritan and Syriac].Rome, Propaganda Fide, [ca. 1700/60?]. Oblong 8vo (11 x 17 cm). A complete set of 12 leaves published without a title-page, printed on rectos only, each page with a frame of double rules and an additional single rule (built up from short rules) delineating a panel at the head that contains the title of the leaf, 10 of the 12 beginning “Alfabeto ...” and showing woodcut (3) or typographic (7) alphabets, the latter showing Hebrew (meruba & rabbinical), Samaritan (majuscule) and Syriac (estrangela & serto) types. The other 2 leaves show a woodcut illustration of an inscription in stone and an interpretation of it (including a smaller woodcut). Contemporary vellum, with the spine at the head of the leaves.
Description: [12] ll.Rare publication of the Propaganda Fide in Rome, showing alphabets of non-Latin scripts, published without a title-page and printed on the rectos only, with 7 of the 12 leaves showing alphabets of the Propaganda Fide’s printing types for Hebrew (3 sizes of meruba (square) and 1 of rabbinical (semi-cursive)), Samaritan (majuscule) and Syriac (estrangela and serto). The Syriac language bears no relation to modern Syria but is a form of Aramaic spoken by many early Christians in the Middle East and still surviving today. The Propaganda Fide apparently had some of these types cut exclusively for their use, and the present publication shows complete alphabets (including some variant forms) for 6 of the 7, in most cases also with a few words or lines of text (it shows only the first half of the alphabet - alaph to kaph - for the very large serto Syriac). This provides an especially valuable overview of the founts.The present publication collates: A-C4 = 12 ll., with quire signatures on leaves 1-2 of each quire, each leaf printed on the recto with a title at the head:A1: Alfabeto del protoparente Adamo I. delineato nella libraria Vaticana. [woodcut characters]A2: Alfabeto II. di Adamo secondo che riferisce il P. Giacomo Bonavent. Scozese dell'Ordine di S. Francesco di Paolo nel suo alfabetario intitolato Virga aurea. [woodcut characters]A3: Alfabeto III. di Adamo cavato dal libro di Lorenzo Schradero stampato in Helmstatt l'anno 1592. [woodcut characters]A4: Alfabeto Hebreo detto Soprasilvio. [meruba (square) Hebrew type]B1: Alfabeto Hebreo detto Testo. [meruba (square) Hebrew type]B2:Alfabeto Hebreo detto Garamone. [meruba (square) Hebrew type]B3: Alfabeto Hebreo rabbinico detto Garamone. [rabbinical (semi-cursive) Hebrew type]B4: Lettere cavata dal P. Tomaso da Navara che si trovano sculpite in una pietra piccola posta à piedi del Monte Oreb, dove Dio N.S. diede la legge. [woodcut of the Mount Horeb inscription]C1: Analysi dell'antecedente carattere, conforme alla dispositione del P. Atanasio Kircher nel Prodromo Copto, approvata da' molti. [interpretation of the Mount Horeb inscription]C2: Alfabeto Samaritano, detto Testo. [majuscule Samaritan type (1636)]C3: Alfabeto Estranghelo, overo Chaldeo antico, detto Testo. [estrangela Syriac type, Coakley S7 (1636)]C4: Alfabeto Chaldeo, overo Siro detto, di due righe di Silvio. [serto Syriac type, Coakley W12 large size (1618), bought by the Propaganda Fide 1653]Nearly all references describe this book as an oblong 8vo, but this appears to be an error. The two copies we have examined are both oblong 4to’s, with the chain-lines vertical in the oblong leaves and the watermark(s) divided at the heads of the leaves (in the middle of a long edge). Several leaves with the double rule at the foot shaved, not effecting the text or quire signatures, otherwise in good condition. A rare collection of non-Latin alphabets, including the Propaganda Fide’s Hebrew, Samaritan and Syriac types.l Amaduzzi, Catalogus librorum ... Propaganda Fide (1773), p. 7; Birrell & Garnett (1928), 4; Coakley, Typography of Syriac W12 & S7; Philologia orientalis 199; D. Stolzenberg, Egyptian Oedipus: antiquarianism, oriental studies ... in the work of Athanasius Kircher (Thesis Stanford Univ., 2004), pp. 118 & 121; WorldCat (11 copies in 9 entries).

Keywords: [94684889A2BD] BOOK HISTORY, EDUCATION, LEARNING & PRINTING|[94684889A2BD] BOOK HISTORY, EDUCATION, LEARNING & PRINTING -> [J5ICED84YBRC] Greek & Non-Western Types|[6369B77AC038] LITERATURE & LINGUISTICS|[6369B77AC038] LITERATURE & LINGUISTICS -> [C60CF2E