Masehafa mazemurate zaDawite, hoc est psalterium Davidis Aethiopice et Latine, cum duobus impressis & tribus MSStis codicibus diligenter collatum & emendatum […] by LUDOLF, Hiob - 1701

Francofurti ad Moenum: Johannem David. Zunner, 1701. First edition. Hardcover. 4to. pp. [8], 427, [1]. Ethiopic text and Latin translation on opposite pages. Title page is printed in red and black with the first three lines in Ethiopic. Bound in full period calf with spine gilt in six compartments – rubbed; a small spot on the front hinge is professionally strengthened. The title page contains scattered foxing and is age-toned / tanned around the edges. The interior pages are generally clean and crisp with only minor age toning and spots of foxing. The bottom corner tip of the margin on p. 273-74 is clipped / torn. Some discoloration is present on pp. 228-229 where a small slip of early decorative paper was used as a book mark. The inside front and rear covers contain an institutional stamp; a “released” stamp and an early institutional book plate are also located on the inside front cover. No other library or institutional stamps are present. The front free fly leaf displays a couple of inscriptions in early hands (one with date 1828). Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704) was an important German orientalist who is considered the founder of modern western Ethiopian studies. This is the first complete edition of Ludolf’s Ethiopic Psalter with Latin translation. (An earlier edition of Psalms I-V was published in Frankfurt (1699) as a specimen). Ludolf, with the assistance of Johann Heinrich Michaels, used the 1513 and 1518 editions of the Ethiopic Psalter as well as three manuscripts in preparing his new edition (See Darlow). Other Biblical hymns and prayers including the Song of Solomon (in Ethiopic only) are also included. The last section of the book (pp.345-427) is devoted to extensive scholarly notes – variae lectiones et notae – on the individual Psalms. [Darlow & Moule 3572; Brunet IV, 921; Graesse V, p. 469].