Sammelband of 6 works in first and second edition

THE FOUNDER OF ETHIOPIAN STUDIES

[…] Relatio nova de hodierno Habessiniae statu, ex India nuper allata. Additis Epistolis Regiis ad Societatem Indiae Orientalis, ejusque Responsione cum Notis necessariis. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner, 1693.

Folio. 32 pp. Collation: A⁴ B-G². Engraved vignette with the coat of arms of the King of Ethiopia on the title page, engraved portrait of the Abyssinian condottiere Culanel Gabas Chan on title-page verso. Also published by Zunner and Jacquet under the title Appendix ad Historiam Aethiopicam Jobi Ludolfi Illiusque Commentarium. It includes texts in Arabic type.

First edition.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\BVEE\039225; VD17, 39:124177N; G. Fumagalli, Bibliografia etiopica, Milan, 1893, 1429^I.

(bound with:)

[…] Dissertatio de locustis anno praeterito immensa copia in Germania visis, cum diatriba, qua sententia autoris nova de […] Selavis, sive locustis, cibo Israëlitarum in deserto, defenditur, & argumentis contrariis viri docti respondetur. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner, 1694.

Folio. [8], 88 pp. Collation: )(⁴ A-B⁴ C² D-L⁴ M². Engraved vignette on the title page depicting two locusts, male and female. Two other engravings on pp. 14 and 20 (the latter full-page). With some woodcut diagrams in text. Hebrew and Syriac types.

First edition.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\BVEE\039251; VD17, 23:267504U; Fumagalli, 1429^II.

(bound with:)

[…] Hoc est: Iobi Ludolfi Lexicon Aethiopico-Latinum: ex omnibus libris impressis, et multis MSStis contextum. Nunc denuo ab ipso autore revisum ac emendatum, plurimisque novis radicibus & derivatis, nec non nominibus propriis auctum, vt in praefatione pluribus dicetur. Editio secunda accedis index Latinus copiosissimus, qui vicem lexici Latino-Aethiopici praestare possit. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner at the author's expenses, 1699.

Folio. [12] leaves, 664 cols., [22] ll. Collation: [π]² )o(-)o()o(⁴ A-Ss⁴ Tt² (a)-(l)². Leaf [π]1 is a blank. Leaf [π]2 contains the half title for the present and the following work. Title printed in red and black. The first part of the title is in Ethiopic. Text printed in two columns. Ethiopic type designed by the author. Tear to the upper margin of l. H1.

Second edition (first London, 1661).

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\NAPE\036244; VD17, 12:128948M; Fumagalli, 1187.

(followed by:)

[…] Iobi Ludolfi Grammatica Aethiopica: ab ipso autore solicite revisa, & plurimis in locis correcta & aucta. Editio secunda. Accedit prosodia, cum appendicibus, praxi grammatica, et de scribendis epistolis aethiopicis; denique index vocabulorum difficiliorum. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner and Nicolaus Wilhelm Helwig at the author's expenses, 1702.

Folio. [12], 184, [8] pp. Collation: )(⁶ A-Z⁴ a⁴. Title printed in red and black with a woodcut ornament. The first part of the title is in Ethiopic. Ethiopic type designed by the author. Small hole to l. S1 slightly affecting the text.

Second edition (first London, 1661).

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\VIAE\016975; Fumagalli, 1176.

(bound with:)

[…] Seu grammatica linguae Amharicae quae vernacula est Habessinorum in usum eorum qui cum antiqua hac et praeclara natione christiana conversari volent, edita. Plura habes in praefatione. Autore Iobo Ludolfo. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner, 1698.

Folio. [12], 59, [1] pp. Collation: [π]² )(⁴ A-G⁴ H². Leaf [π]1 contains the half title for the present and the following work. Leaf [π]2 is a blank. Title printed in red and black with a large engraved vignette in the center. The first part of the title in Amharic. Ethiopic type.

First edition.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\BVEE\036323; VD17, VD17, 12:128936Q; Fumagalli, 1144.

(followed by:)

[…] Seu lexicon Amharico-Latinum cum indice Latino copioso inquirendis vocabulis Amharicis in hoc opere contentis. Autore Iobo Ludolfo. Frankfurt a.M., Martin Jacquet for Johann David Zunner, 1698.

Folio. [4] pp., 1-102 cols., 103, [16] pp. Collation: )(² A-F⁴ G² (a)-(d)². Title printed in red and black with a large engraved vignette in the center. The first part of the title in Amharic. Ethiopic type.

First edition.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\BVEE\036325; VD17, 12:128940A; Fumagalli, 1143.

Sammelband (312x195 mm) of four works, of which two are composed of two separate parts, by the German orientalist Hiob Ludolf, who is condisidered as the founder of Ethiopian studies in Europe. Contemporary binding in half leather, label with inked title on spine, panels in parchment later covered by a light blue paper. Stamps of the Franciscan Library of Schwäbisch Hall. Some occasional light browning, all in all a good, genuine copy.

The volume contains in first edition two appendixes to Ludolf's major work, the Historia Aethiopica (Frankfurt, 1681), i.e. a relation on Abyssinia and a dissertation on locusts; the second edition of his Lexicon Aethiopico-Latinum and Grammatica Aethiopica, the first ever Ethiopian (Ge'ez)-Latin dictionary and Ge'ez grammar; and finally the first edition of the first Amharic grammar and dictionary ever published.

Ludolf's dictionaries and grammars of the two main Ethiopian languages are the result of his multilingual collaboration with the Ethiopian monk Abba Gorgoryos (1595-1658) and the Ethiopian-Portuguese cleric Antonio d'Andrade (1610-1670). Ludolf became the leading Ethiopic scholar of his generation by introducing to a European audience the history and languages of Ethiopia, which had been largely cut off from Europe following the spread of Islam in North Africa. Ludolf was particularly interested in Amharic and Ge'ez literatures as they provided an invaluable historical record of one of the world's oldest Christian societies. “Ethiopic and Amharic dictionaries and grammars were of importance far transcending his own time and remained, for well over a century and a half, the indispensable tools for the study of these languages” (E. Ullendorff, The Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People, London, 1965, p. 11).

Born in Erfurt in 1624, Ludolf studied studied medicine and law as well as oriental languages such as Arabic, Syriac, Ge'ez and Hebrew at the University of Erfurt. In 1649 he was sent to Rome by the Swedish ambassador to France, for whom he was working at the time. It was in Rome that Ludolf became acquainted with Abba Gorgoryos and the other Ethiopian monks residing there at the time. In 1652 he entered the service of the duke of Saxe-Gotha. In 1683, he travelled to England with the aim of establishing trade relations with Ethiopia. The following year, he returned to Germany and settled in Frankfurt, devoting himself wholly to literary work, which he continued until his death.

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