Preces S. Niersis Clajensis Armeniorum Patriarchae viginti quatuor linguis editae.

A$550 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Venice : In Insula S. Lazari [at the Armenian press], 1823. Duodecimo (150 x 100 mm), contemporary marbled calf with ornate gilt borders, spine with stamped title and decoration; original owner s inscription to recto of first blank: Given to E. Alexander Whytt Esq. by Paschal Aucher, St. Lazarus 5th October 1824. ; verso of the front free-endpaper inscribed by the book s next owner, Mr. S. S. Garrett, July 1835 , accompanied by a few of his annotations; engraved frontispiece portrait of Saint Nerses Shnorhali ( the Gracious ), title-page in calligraphic type (annotation to upper margin); pp. [2 blank], [8], 422, [2 index], [2 blank]; text in 24 languages, printed in many exotic fonts including Armenian, Chaldean, Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, and Greek; a few dog-eared leaves, some occasional and very light spotting, otherwise internally excellent. A remarkable polyglot prayer book, comprising a prayer composed by the twelfth-century Armenian patriarch, Saint Nerses the Gracious, rendered in twenty-four languages and printed at the press of the Mekhitarist Congregation (of the Armenian Benedictine Order) on the island of San Lazzaro, Venice. This copy was presented by the editor of the work, Paschal Aucher, to its first owner, Englishman Ebenezer Alexander Whytt. The prayer printed in English, Arabic, Armenian (two variants), Chaldean, French, German, Greek (two variants), Hebrew, Irish, Hispanic, Dutch, Hungarian, Spanish, Illyrian, Italian, Latin, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbi

• Binding: Hardcover

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