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an old book with a picture of a man and a woman on itan old book with a brown cover sitting on top of a white surfacean open book with a picture of a lion on itan open book with a page of text on itan open book with arabic writing on itan old open book with arabic writing on itan open book with arabic writing on it sitting on top of a table
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82 - KIRSTEN (Peter, or Petrus Kirstenius).
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Estimate €800 - €1,200
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Description
KIRSTEN (Peter, or Petrus Kirstenius). NOTÆ IN EVANGELIUM S. MATTHÆI. Based on a collation of Arabic, Egyptian, Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Latin texts […]. Breslau [Wrocław], published at the author’s expense and using his own Arabic typeface, [1611, date by chronogram]. Small folio (302 × 197 mm) in marbled fawn calfskin, spined and divided, decorated with gilt fleurons, title label in garnet morocco, edges adorned with a gilt roulette, gilt filleted caps, red edges (18th-century binding); (5) ff., 140 pp. One corner blunt, leather missing from one edge, scuffing to the clasps, water stains on the second leaf and in the side margin without affecting the text on the last 7 ff. VERY RARE FIRST EDITION of this philological commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, based chiefly on the ARABIC VERSION. The work, printed in two columns, combines Latin with numerous passages in ARABIC CHARACTERS, as well as GREEK and HEBREW. This work is one of the EARLIEST GERMAN PUBLICATIONS TO USE MOVABLE ARABIC TYPE. Peter KIRSTEN (1577–1640), a doctor, physician and orientalist, had the type required for his publications cast at his own expense. There are two variants of this edition: one with a printed title and the other with an ILLUSTRATED ENGRAVED TITLE in intaglio, which is the case with our copy. This features a decorated architectural frame, with figures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and, at the bottom, a portrait of the author. The volume is also complete with the preliminary leaf, which is sometimes missing and which contains a eulogistic poem of 26 lines in Hebrew by Jakob Ebert of Frankfurt, with the Latin translation on the front. A CHARMING COPY, in an 18th-century binding, well preserved. ¶ Brunet, III, 670 – Zenker, II, 1781 – Smitskamp, ‘Philologia orientalis’, 113.
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Auction time 11/12/2026 at 2:00 PM
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