Antiquitates Ecclesiae Orientalis (Antiquities of the Eastern Church, Now Edited from the Autograph Letters of the Most Illustrious Scholars)
London: G. Wells, 1682. First edition. Hardcover. Two parts, small octavo. Collation: A2, [star]8, B-O8, P2; (second series) K-2H8, 2I4 (= 296 leaves). [20], 211, [1 blank], 129-487, [1 blank]pp. Index of letters bound between the reader's preface and the Life of Morin. Texts in Latin, with occasional passages in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Greek. Contemporary vellum (lightly stained) with old manuscript label (faded and blurred) at spine. Occasional light toning and a few oxidation spots, else a very good copy, with crisp text.
First edition of this important collection of letters, chiefly between the orientalist and member of the Oratorian order, Jean Morin (1591-1659) and Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679). Occasioned by the attempt of Pope Urban VIII to unite the eastern churches with the Roman Catholic Church, they document an important early attempt to address the relations between Rome and the Christian communities of the Levant and Near East. The first two letters, from the Samaritan community in Egypt, are addressed to Joseph Scaliger and discuss the differences between their luni-solar calendar and that employed by the mainstream Jewish community; originally written in Hebrew, the present Latin versions were prepared by Morin. Fourteen letters contain the correspondence between Morin and Pietro Della Valle (1586-1652), on Samaritan matters and Islamic chronology.
Purchased from the heirs of the French scholar Amelot de la Houssaye, the 94 letters were edited by the pioneering biblical critic Richard Simon (1638-1712), who may be credited with the "first attempt to write a history of the Bible as a piece of literature" (Schaff-Herzog). Focusing his analyses on the text, versions, and commentaries, Simon critically discussed the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and defended the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. He affirmed the critical value of the Masoretic text, while acknowledging the late origin of the Hebrew vocalization system. In his Histoire Critique du Vieux Testament (Paris, 1678) he also dared to suggest "that Moses cannot be the author of all the books attributed to him." Too radical for its time, the work was suppressed and nearly all copies of the first print run were destroyed. (A transcription of one of the surviving copies served as the basis of the 1680 Rotterdam edition, and an English version published at London in 1682.) Simon was expelled from the Oratorians. It thus comes as no surprise to observe that his substantial biography of Morin which precedes the letters "amounts to a diatribe against not only Morin, but the entire Oratorian Congregation" (Wetzer & Welte).
Provenance: Stamp of Collegii Albertini Bonnae at recto and verso of the title; from the library of Old Catholic theologian J. H. Reinkens (1821-96), with his manuscript entry at the front endleaf. Very good-. Item #51316
References: ESTC R-5020; Ingold, Essai de bibl. oratorienne, 150; Orme, Bibl. Biblica, 301; Wetzer & Welte, Kirchenlexikon VIII, p.1919; Wing M-2764 & S-3795.
Full title and imprint: Antiquitates Ecclesiae Orientalis, clarissimorum virorum Barbarini, Allatii, Holstenii, Morini, Ecchellensis, Peirescii, à Valle, Comberi, Buxtorfii, Hottingeri, &c. Dissertationibus epistolicis enucleatae; nunc ex ipsis autographis editae. Quibus praefixa est Morini Congr. Orat. Paris. PP. Vita. Londini: Prostant apud Geo. Wells, ad insigne Solis in Coemeterio D. Pauli. 1682.
Price: $500.00