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[xxxxiv], 703; [ii], [iv] 152. Three folding plates in the first section, showing the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth. 1 folding plate in the glossary. Engraved frontis. Octavo. Full probably contemporary calf leather binding, rubbed at the corners, 4 raised bands to the spine with stamping in the compartments, gilt nearly gone. Interior front end paper has old bibliographic clip laid down with pencil German notes under, some various old brown ink small notes here and there, the name Chas. Lillie Stockh 1746 on verso of the title. Occasional errors of pagination, the paper stock is a bit eccentric with the paper fading out at the occasional corner or fore-edge, a few small thin spots in the margins, one affecting text. Text otherwise clean, endpapers edge-darkened, inside back cover has collation notes dated 1978. The title page for the Glossarium has the date 1671, making this the 2nd issue of the first Swedish edition of the Gothic translation of the Gospels, which are in Gothic (in Roman type) , Icelandic and Swedish (both in Black Letter) and in Latin (Italic). The preface in Latin, by Swedish scholar Georg Stjernhejelm, includes a dissertation on the origins of languages and finishes with the Lord's Prayer, first in Latin (the "mother tongue") , then translations in Italian, Spanish, French, Romansh, Sardinian and Sardinian Vulgata, and Romanian (Walachian) -- the first Romanian text published in Western Europe (Museum of Biblical Art). Ulfilas (Wulfila) was a 4th century Greek who is said to have been kidnapped by the Goths. He converted them to Christianity and eventually became their bishop. He is purported to have developed a new alphabet in order to translate the Bible into Gothic for the first time (although analysis of surviving texts indicates that the translation was probably a group effort). His Bible was also the earliest known literary text in a Germanic language and the oldest surviving Teutonic text. Only fragments of Ufilas's Bible survive, mostly NT, dating from the 5th or 6th century. Those fragments were written with silver ink (hence Codex Argenteus) on purple parchment and given to Theodoric the Great (454-526) , king of the Ostrogoths. The manuscript traveled to Prague, to Holland, to France -- where Francois Jun (Junius) studied it and published the first modern edition in 1665. Finally the Codex Argenteus went to Sweden, where this important edition was put together by Stjernhjelm. The elaborate frontispiece, drawn by Swedish artist David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (1628-98) and engraved by Dionysius Padtbrugge (1628-83) , is a copy of the scene on the original Codex Arg. , and shows Ulfilas writing at a table, while Father Time dramatically lifts a gravestone releasing Naked Truth who emerges with a copy of the Codex Argenteus. This copy of this important work is especially interesting because the separate title page for Junius's Glossarium is dated 1671 and it includes a folding plate we have not been able to locate on any other copy. Opposite the page showing the 3 columns with the Gothic, the Runic and the Latin alphabets is an unrecorded? Page titled Oratio Dominica quoting Matthew 6: 9. The verse is written in Gothic lettering with a romanized pronunciation guide underneath each word, along with fragments from a few other Bible verses, similarly done in Gothic with pronunciation help. This extraordinary page is followed by another Glossarium title page dated 1670. An important and fascinating linguistic and religious work, in nice condition, with a possibly unknown folding plate. OCLC 54320847 (which does not have the Glossarium plate) ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 855 pages.
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