General Introduction to the Book of Gregory of Himyaritia; [with] The Story of Gregory of Himyaritia's Miracles by the Monk Vnifantius; [with] St Gregentios's Disputation with the Jew Ervan, Chapters 1-5, and Prayers; [and] On the Manner in Which a Loyal People Speak with Their Tsar.

GREGENTIOS OF HIMYARITIA (St Gregory of Taphar).

Published by [Russia: c.1690]

A rare Church Slavonic manuscript of the Dialexis - an important early medieval source on the dawn of Islam - by St Gregentios, Archbishop of Himyaritia, the ancient region spanning parts of modern Yemen, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. No manuscript copies have been traced in commerce, and only four examples of the printed Greek editions (1586; 1603) have appeared in the past 50 years. Originally composed in Greek and completed in Constantinople in the 10th century, the Dialexis (Disputation with the Jew Ervan) was translated into Slavonic in the 14th century. Gregentios (d. 552; later known as Gregory of Taphar or Dhofar), appointed bishop at Alexandria, travelled to Najran to aid local Christians persecuted by the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas, prevailing through theological disputation with Rabbi Ervan. Three passages (fols. 79r, 134v, 223v) allude to the rise of Islam, likely incorporated into the Greek text from seventh- and eighth-century Caliphate-era sources by the tenth-century compiler. One interprets Isaiah 60:5-6 - "the herds of camels going to Jerusalem" - as foretelling Ishmael's descendants who would believe in the future; another links the "hated Agarenes" to early Christian-Muslim conflict in Arabia; a third implies, through Rabbi Ervan's position, an Arab rather than Jewish origin for Jesus. Provenance: Aronov Collection, New York (-1995) - Sam Fogg, London, April 1995 - Martin Schøyen (his bookplate and manuscript number to front pastedown). A. Berger, Life and Works of Saint Gregentios, Archbishop of Taphar - Introduction, Critical Edition and Translation, 2012; Zofia A. Brzozowska, ed., Muhammad and the Origin of Islam in the Byzantine-Slavic Literary Context, 1997; C. Forster, Historical Geography of Arabia, 1844. Four works in one vol., quarto (200 x 150 mm), manuscript on paper. Ff. 232, 19 lines per full page in Skoropis (Cyrillic cursive). Watermark: fool with cap and bells and crest of the United Provinces, with initials AI and CDG; crest of Amsterdam with countermark DH (cf. Kukushkina 381-82, dated 1693-96, and Dianova 478, dated 1680). Hand-drawn decorated frontispiece, rubricated initials and headings. Eighteenth-century deerskin over bevelled wooden boards, remains of one brass clasp, blind-tooled to a panel design, with rolls of dentelles in blind, central panel of front cover with blind-stamped lozenge-shaped centrepiece and blind-stamped floral cornerpieces, central panel of rear corner with grille-de-St-Laurent design of floral rolls in blind. Lacking one brass clap, covers and extremities rubbed, remaining clasp and spine refurbished, small loss to upper front joint, textblock split, contents toned, upper and outer margins lightly waterstained with traces of mould in a few places, small worm trail to upper blank margin on second half of the gatherings, first and last dozen leaves sometime remargined, occasionally affecting a couple of words: a very good example. Seller Inventory # 185686

Bibliographic Details

Title: General Introduction to the Book of Gregory ...
Publisher: [Russia: c.1690]