Alphabetum Arabicum
Rome, 1592
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 30 September 2020 at 11:00 BST
Description
Rome: Typographia Medicea, 1592. First edition, 8vo, 64pp., woodcut device on title, title restored on verso at corner, some marginal manuscript translations of letters cropped by binder, somewhat dust-soiled, occasional dampstains, inner margin of p.25 and 63 torn, final leaf frayed, corner repaired and small hole with loss of a few letters, title with womhole on title after "Romae" affecting one word on verso, title almost detached, 19th century boards, worn & soiled, stitching weak
Footnote
Note: The Medici Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing books in an Arabic typeface, was founded in Rome in 1584 under the direction of Giovanni Battista Raimondi and the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII.