Grammatica arabica cum Fabulis Lokmani (An Arabic Grammar and the Fables of Luqman the Sage)

Author: Luqman, the Sage; Abu Tammam Habib ibn Aws al-Ta'i; Thomas Erpenius; Albert Schultens (ed. and trans.)
Title: Grammatica arabica cum Fabulis Lokmani (An Arabic Grammar and the Fables of Luqman the Sage)
Publication: Leiden: Samuel and Johannes Luchtmans, 1767
Edition: Second Schultens edition

Description: Hardcover. Three parts, quarto. a-r4 s2 t4 (-t4) A-4P4 (= 409 leaves). [14], cxxxii, 301, [302]-603, [1, blank], [68, indices]pp. Engraved printer's device at title, heraldic cartouche at dedication; woodcut head- and tail-pieces, lettrines; divisional titles at 2C3 and 2P4, register continuous. Prize dedication at front endleaf. Library stamps and endleaf and title. Contemporary half calf over lightly rubbed marbled boards; spine with morocco lettering piece; partially detached green silk ties. A clean, fresh, amply-margined copy.

Second Schultens edition, a line-for-line reprint of the 1748 edition, with only the indices expanded. This Arabic grammar and chrestomathy, with a long excerpt from the Hamasa of Abu Tammam, edited by Schultens for the first time, embodies the collective scholarship of numerous early modern students of the Arabic language, spanning more than a century, including such notables as Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609); Thomas Erpenius (1584-1624); Jacobus Golius (1596-1667), and Albert Schultens (1686-1750). The Grammatica arabica, "the first scientific Arabic grammar written by a European scholar" (Smitskamp), is the work of Thomas Erpenius and was first published in 1613; his edition of selections from the Fables of Luqman appeared in 1614. Later editions of the Grammatica were edited by Golius, Erpenius' successor to the chair of Arabic at Leiden. The selections of anonymous Arabic proverbs were first edited by Erpenius and Scaliger. The Schultens' editions expand the critical apparatus and add a long preface, along with selections from the ten-book anthology of Arabic poetry compiled in the ninth century by Abu Tammam (fl. 808-842).

The collection of ancient Fables traditionally ascribed to Luqman the Sage has long provided elementary reading material for young students of Arabic. In his classic anthology, Henry Coppée provides an English translation of the first fable in the present selection (p.207), The Lion and the Two Bulls: One day a lion attacked two bulls, but the two joined their forces and struck him with their horns; they thus prevented him from separating them. He then addressed one of them, and deceived him by promising that he would never undertake anything against him. He thus succeeded in separating him from his companion. Deceived by this promise, the two bulls left each other; whereupon the lion tore them in pieces, one after the other. Moral: When people of two adjoining towns unite in opinion and purpose, their enemies' efforts against them are vain; but when discord divides them, they both perish.

Annotations and Provenance: The front endleaf contains a prize inscription dated XIII ante Cal. Septembr. MDCCCXXXV [1835] for the achievement of Bartholomeus Joannes Westerbeek Van Eerten, signed by the curators of the Doetinchem gymnasium. Excerpts from Brill catalogues noting the 1636 and 1748 editions of Erpenius' Grammar are tipped-in at the front endleaf. Old library stamps of a Dutch theological school appear at the front endleaf and title. Very Good+.

Full title: Grammatica Arabica cum Fabulis Lokmani, etc. Accedunt excerpta anthologiae veterum Arabiae poetarum quae inscribitur Hamasa abi Temmam, ex. mss. biblioth. Academ. batavae, edita, conversa et notis illustrata... Praefatio imaginariam linguam, scriptionem, et lineam sanctam Judaeorum confutat. Ed. 2. cum indice locupletiore

References: Brunet 2, 1050. De Sacy 2765 (among the Arabic grammars noted in the NYPL priced copy, this was the stand-out lot going for 13 fr., most others selling for between 1-3 fr.) Schnurrer 106. Smitskamp, PO, 75. H. Coppée, The Classic and the Beautiful from the Literature of 3000 Years.

Seller ID: 49062

Subject: Language



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