Lexicon pentaglotton... Una cum Abbreviaturis Hebraeis (A Lexicon of Five Languages, along with Hebrew Abbreviations)
London: William Jones, 1637. Hardcover. Two parts, folio. [pi]1 [para.]1 A-2L4 Mm6 2N4 (= 148 leaves) [4], col. 559 [i.e. 544]; [20]pp. Title within ornate woodcut border; woodcut lettrines and headpieces. Contemporary calf, borders ruled in blind; gilt spine with raised bands; dentelles; edges stained red; brass clasps and catches intact. Front joint expertly repaired, rear joint starting to split at top; mild wear at extremities; light worm trace at fore-margin early leaves. A very good copy, amply-margined, with fine, fresh text.
An abridgment of Valentin Schindler’s celebrated Semitic lexicon of Hebrew, Aramaic (biblical, Syriac, and talmudic) and Arabic, and the last of five issues, with Walter Keuchen’s “Rasche Theboth”, a dictionary of rabbinic abbreviations. On the colorful printing history of this work, S.K. Jones noted: “We are thus confronted with three issues dated 1635, one dated 1637, and one undated, but which from a reference in the preface can be assigned to the year 1633; that is to say with five issues within as many years, giving four different titles and three different authors. One point only is common to all. William Jones has the unenviable distinction of placing his name as publisher on all five issues, thereby gaining credit for what is probably something of a record even in the history of the early seventeenth century book trade.” While Schindler’s name does not appear on the title, Pollard and Redgrave note that the present edition reprints the preface of the 1635 issue.
Provenance: From the library of Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, Barrister, with his engraved bookplate at the front pastedown. Very good. Item #49160
References: ESTC S-116733, noting this to be “another issue of STC 21817.3”. A. W. Haddon (ed.), The Theological Works of Herbert Thorndike, 6:175-176; 267, noting a 1635 Epitome lexici Hebraici as Thorndike’s first work. For a very thorough discussion of the issue points, and of the uncertainty whether to assign the abridgement to William Alabaster or Thorndike, see S. K. Jones, “The History of a Hebrew Lexicon”, The Library, Series III, 5 (1914): 410-423.
Price: $3,500.00