Tractatus stigmologicus hebraeo-biblicus
Amsterdam: J. Wetstenium and G. Smith, 1738. First edition. Two parts, quarto. [star]-2[star]4, A-2D4, 2E2 (= 118 leaves). [16], 220pp. Title in red and black with large engraved printer’s device by F. Morillon after Debrie; woodcut ornaments and initals; half-page engraved vignette at dedication; 3 engraved charts (1 folding); second part with caption title (pagination continuous); passages in Hebrew throughout. Contemporary dark brown calf (extremities worn), expertly rebacked in morocco with raised bands, old gilt title label preserved. Library stamps and old manuscript entry at title margins; tears at bottom margins A2-3 (affecting catchwords only); text lightly toned, with some marginal smudges and touches of foxing. A good, amply-margined copy, with clean text throughout, complete with all three engraved charts.
First edition (published posthumously) of this uncommon and idiosyncratic analysis of the Hebrew diacritical accentuation system. The present work is notably absent from the twelve-volume edition of Boston's Whole Works (Aberdeen: G. and R. King, 1848-1852). Thomas Boston, the Elder (1676-1732) is perhaps best known for his autobiography, first published in 1776. "This is in the form of a diary, tedious and minute beyond all precedent, but evincing a wonderful simplicity of heart, ignorance of the world, and a mind continually harrassed by conscientious scruples about the merest trifles; much of it, however, may be interesting to curious inquirers, as exhibiting characteristics of the manners and sentiments of the Scotch clergy of the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth century” (Chalmers). These memoirs contain much material (a full 20 pages) relating to the plan, research, and publication preparations for the “work on the Hebrew accentuation” later published as the Tractatus stigmologicus Hebraeo-Biblicus. Johann Heinrich Michaelis is mentioned, along with "Rabbi" Moses Marcus, a formerly Jewish convert to Christianity. (N.B.: The 1899 Glasgow edition of Boston's autobiography omits some of the letters and notes in the appendices which are of chief interest in this context.) Boston's reference to the term "stigma" in the title is notable, as Niermeyer indicates the range of meanings and connotation shifts to a positive value in the middle ages, from the classical sense of a brand on slaves, or a mark of discrace to a magical symbol or mark of dignity.
While his evaluation of Boston's work is generally positive, in his preface (6 February 1738), the Utrecht orientalist David Millius does take exception to Boston’s view that the Hebrew accents are of divine origin. “Boston’s work shows very thorough a wide scholarship; he was acquainted with French and Dutch, in addition to the tongues necessary for his purpose. He had prepared for the press ‘An Essay on the first twenty-three chapters of the Book of Genesis; in a twofold version of the original text’, with notes, theological and philological; in this work he showed the utility of his theory of the Hebrew accents, and make use of the elaborate system of punctuation which he had framed to represent them in English” (DNB). William Orme's somewhat later assessment is more critical: "Mr. Boston was a considerable Hebrew scholar for the period in which he lived, and supposed that he had made an important discovery respecting the accentuation of the Hebrew Scriptures... It was several times written in his own hand in English, and then translated by him into Latin, in order to its being printed in Holland. He was encouraged by Sir Richard Ellis and Dr. Waterland at home, and by Schultens, Gronovius and J. H. Michaelis, abroad. After all, his scheme of literal interpretation, and his doctrine of the divine origin of the points, have contributed little to the better understanding of the Bible."
Orme, Bibl. Biblica, p. 55. Bibl. Schultensiana 3426 (Gramm. & Lex. Ling. Orient. in quarto). Not in Horne. Not in Walch.
Provenance: Stamp and manuscript entry of the Theological Library of Aberdeen; stamp of the Free Church of Scotland College Library, Edinburgh. Item #49211
Price: $500.00