Praces Sancti Nersetis Clajensis Armeniorum Patriarchae viginti quator linguis editae.
Venitiis [Venice]: In Insula S. Lazari, 1837. Third edition. 12mo (6.38 x 4 inches), contemporary sprinkled boards, gilt tooling, orange leather spine label, gilt lettering, [4], 434 pages, a.e.g. Frontispiece, engraved title page. Some slight paste bleed from the mounted cut. Corners and lower edges of the boards rubbed, joints a trifle scuffed; some light foxing; in very good condition. Item #21896
An attractive polyglot collection of prayers from the Armenian patriarch, here in boards decorated in imitation of sprinkled calf, published by the Mekhitarist Armenian monastery on the Island of San Lazzaro in the Venetian Lagoon. The collection serves as something of a type specimen of non-Roman types available in Venice in the Habsburg era; examples include Syriac, Chaldean, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese characters—and, of course, Armenian. Per OCLC, seemingly preceded by an 1815 edition of 172 pages (and an unknown number of languages) at U. Toronto and the 422-page 1823 edition (edited by Paschal Aucher) with 24 languages noted in the title. With a contemporary clipped woodcut view of San Lazaro mounted to the blank verso of the front free endpaper.
Price: $250.00