Accession number
PML 34177
Published
[Rome] : [Marcellus Silber for Johann Potken], [10 September 1513]
Credit line
Purchased in 1937.
Notes
Title of work taken from catalog record of copy held by University of Oxford.
Imprint from colophon, 13/4r (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."
Date of completion from second colophon, leaf 14/6v (at the end of the Song of Solomon): "Finitu[m] Romæ Die X. Septembris. Anno [Christ]ianæ Salutis. M.D. XIII."
The first book printed in Ethiopic (Geez) characters, from type commissioned by Potken himself, which he used again in his polyglot edition, Psalterium in quatuor linguis Hebraea, Graeca, Chaldaea, Latina (Cologne: Johann Soter, 1518).
"The first book ever to be printed in Ge'ez, the first book to be printed in the West in an oriental language other than Hebrew, and the first psalter to be printed in a language other than Hebrew, Greek, or Latin"--Leaf P. Austern, Psalms in the early modern world (2016), in discussion of this edition on pages 4-6
Collation: 4to (signed in Ethiopic characters, here given as numerals): 1-12⁸ 13⁴ [14]⁶ [chi]² [$5 ( -13₄) signed; the six leaf gathering with leaves 1-4 direction numbered]; 108 leaves, unnumbered. The 6-leaf gathering 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.
Imprint from colophon, 13/4r (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."
Date of completion from second colophon, leaf 14/6v (at the end of the Song of Solomon): "Finitu[m] Romæ Die X. Septembris. Anno [Christ]ianæ Salutis. M.D. XIII."
The first book printed in Ethiopic (Geez) characters, from type commissioned by Potken himself, which he used again in his polyglot edition, Psalterium in quatuor linguis Hebraea, Graeca, Chaldaea, Latina (Cologne: Johann Soter, 1518).
"The first book ever to be printed in Ge'ez, the first book to be printed in the West in an oriental language other than Hebrew, and the first psalter to be printed in a language other than Hebrew, Greek, or Latin"--Leaf P. Austern, Psalms in the early modern world (2016), in discussion of this edition on pages 4-6
Collation: 4to (signed in Ethiopic characters, here given as numerals): 1-12⁸ 13⁴ [14]⁶ [chi]² [$5 ( -13₄) signed; the six leaf gathering with leaves 1-4 direction numbered]; 108 leaves, unnumbered. The 6-leaf gathering 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.
Description
[108] leaves : 1 illustration (woodcut) ; 23 cm (4to)
Provenance
Convent of S. Roche, Toulouse, inscription: "Bibliothecae Minimospondanae Conuent[us] S[anc]ti Rochi ad Tolosam" (leaf 2r); Sir Thomas Brooke, of Armitage Bridge, armorial bookplate (in previous binding).
Binding
20th-century Morgan laced limp vellum conservation binding. Previously in: mottled calf, gilt back; boards, sewing threads, endbands, and printed binding reinforcements preserved in box with book.
Classification
Catalog link
Department