Psalterium David et cantica aliqua in lingua Chaldea

Item Information

Title:
Psalterium David et cantica aliqua in lingua Chaldea
Title (alt.):
Psalterium Chaldaicum, sive potius Aethiopicum
Title (uniform):
Bible. Psalms. Ethiopic. 1513||Bible. Song of Solomon. Ethiopic. 1513
Editor:
Potken, Johann, approximately 1470-approximately 1525
Publisher:
Potken, Johann, approximately 1470-approximately 1525
Editor:
Samuel, Thomas Walda
Printer:
Silber, Marcello, active 1510-1527
Former owner:
Cardonnel, P. de (Pierre), -1667
Former owner:
Ehrman, Albert
Former owner:
Ehrman, John
Former owner:
Juel-Jensen, Bent
Auctioneer:
Cooper, William, -1689
Former owner:
Martin Breslauer, Inc.
Former owner:
G. Michelmore & Co.
Former owner:
Michael Graves-Johnston (Firm)
Name on Item:
[edidit Joannes Potken]
Date:
September 10, 1513
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Bookplates
Ink stamps
Inscriptions
Marginalia
Limp bindings
Vellum bindings
Manuscript waste
Edge titles
Binding errors
Woodcuts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Special Collections, Rare Books
Subjects:
Psalters--Texts
Ethiopic language--Early works to 1800
YaʼItyop̣yā ʼortodoks tawāḥedo béta kerestiyān--Liturgy--Texts
Places:
Italy > Latian (region) > Roma (province) > Rome
Extent:
[216] pages : 1 illustration (woodcut) ; 23 cm (4to)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/vq284t920
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Publisher:
[Rome] : [Marcellus Silber for Johann Potken]
Language:
Geez
Latin
Notes:
Title of work taken from catalog record of copy held by University of Oxford.
Imprint derived from colophon (አ4r, at the end of the Psalms): "Impressum est opusculu[m] hoc ingenio & impensis Ioan[n]is Potken Prepositi Ecclesie Sancti Georgii Colonien[sis]. Rome per Marcellum Silber al[ia]s fra[n]ck: & finitu[m] Die vltima Iunii Anno salutis. M.D.xiij."
Notes (ownership):
PROVENANCE: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy 2024.36 with various early/contemporary markings at front and back. Illegible 17th-century? signature on title page. Occasional early/contemporary marginalia and markings in the Latin texts. Ownership inscription of Pierre de Cardonnel ("Ex Bibl P. de Cardonnel 1662"). This copy offered by William Cooper in the posthumous sale of Cardonnel's library (6 July 1681, "Libri Theologici in Quarto" lot 92). Offered by G. Michelmore & Co. of London ("200 extraordinarily important books, autographs, and manuscripts," 1923, no. 208). Acquired by Albert Ehrman in 1928, his Broxbourne library bookplate and "AE" stamp on back pastedown with accession number 1197. Thereafter by descent to John Ehrman and offered at Sotheby's in London on 8 May 1978 (lot 532). Purchased by the firm of Martin Breslauer and acquired in 1983 by Dr. Bent Juel-Jenson (his Amharic bookplate at front). Accompanied by Juel-Jenson's notes, with dealer descriptions, etc. Sold at auction through Bonham's in London on 4 November 2008 (Printed Books, Manuscripts, Maps, and Photographs, lot 2) to Michael Graves-Johnston. Acquired in March, 2024 from Michael Graves-Johnston (Catalogue 107: Biblical translations into African languages, no.30)
Notes (acquisition):
Purchase; Michael Graves-Johnston; 20240506; 2024.36.
Notes (date):
Date of completion from second colophon ([ከ]6v, at the end of the Song of Solomon): "Finitu[m] Romae Die X. Septembris. Anno [Christ]ianae Salutis. M.D. XIII."
Notes (citation):
EDIT 16, CNCE 5832
Adams, H.M. Catalogue of books printed on the continent of Europe, 1501-1600, in Cambridge libraries, B1481
Historical catalogue of the printed editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 3560
Princeton University. Century for the Millennium, 27
Pollard, A.W. Catalogue of books mostly from the presses of the first printers ... collected by Rush C. Hawkins, 229
Notes (object):
Collation: 4to, signed: ሀ-ነ⁸ አ⁴ [ከ]⁶ [chi]² [$5 (-አ4) signed; [ከ] with leaves 1-4 direction numbered]; 108 leaves, unnumbered. [ከ] contains the Song of Solomon; the unsigned bifolium, which may also be bound after the first leaf, contains a syllabary and table of numerals ("Alphabetu[m]: seu potius Syllabariu[m] l[itte]ra[rum] Chaldea[rum]")
First leaf bears a full-page woodcut, printed in red, of David (as bearded king) playing the harp in a wooded landscape on recto, with Potken's Latin preface on verso.
Printed in red and black throughout, with red headpieces.
COPY NOTE: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy 2024.36 bound out of order: each of the first 12 gatherings of 8 leaves (i.e., ሀ-ነ) split into successive pairs of nested bifolia. From each respective gathering, these nested bifolia comprise leaves 1, 2, 7, and 8 (first pair), then 3, 4, 5, and 6 (second pair). The Ge'ez syllabary ([chi]) bound in at end after gathering አ. Leaf dimensions: 224 x 163 mm.
BINDING: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy 2024.36 bound in early/contemporary limp parchment. Manuscript title at top of fore-edge; horizontal title slip tipped to the foot of leaf ነ5, reading "[Aethiop]ick chara[cters]." Front hinge incorporates waste from a notarial document. Housed in a modern red cloth box with a black spine label lettered in gilt.
Notes (language):
Text in Ge'ez, with editorial apparatus in Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_019427
Call #:
RARE BKS 2024.36
Barcode:
39999092832938