Dominicus Germano of Silesia

Fabrica Overo Dittionario. Rome 1636

Introductory Manual to Lingua Arabica

DOMINICUS GERMANO of Silesia.
Fabrica Overo Dittionario Della lingua volgare Arabica, et Itliana, Copioso de voci; & locutoni, con osseruare lafrase dell’una lingua.

Rome, Congregationis de Propag.Fide 1636

Quarto, contemporary vellum, pp.(10) + 102, Arabic and Italian throughout, title with printers woodcut device, some browning throughout, an excellent copy.

Schnurrer, Bibliotheca Arabica, 67. Brill, Philologia Orientalis, II,224. Graf IV 177. Lambrecht 464. Copac: 3 copies only at BL, Oxford, Cambridge

FIRST EDITION of this rare Arabic manual printed in Rome at the Propoganda de Fidei Press. Dominicus was the editor of the famous Arabic-Latin dictionary printed in the same press in 1639. Father Germanus [1585-1670] succeded Obicini as Lector of Arabic and as a collaborator on the Arabic Bible project. He later stayed for a time in Persia and ended his life as a scholar in Madrid. There he left his manuscript of an unfinished Qur’an translation and grammaqtical treatises of Persian and Turkish. The Propaganda Press was founded in 1622 and in 1626 a true printing house was established together with a foundry named after the Congregatio. To its stock were added exotic types from the Stamperia Vaticana. The Press printed missals, grammars, dictionaries and Alphabeta.

£1750