6 volumes and 1, (portrait, frontispiece, 14) 865, 889 (1) 29 (1), 447 (1), 389 (1), 227 (1), 149 (1), 87 (1, 3, 1), 128, 23 (1) 20, 159 (1), 390, 983 (1), (2) 72, 56, 98, 80, 196, 140, 24, 58, 36, 36, 96 (=74), (2) p. H. 46 x W. 29,5 cm. Contemporary Leather with 6 raised bands, decorated with gilt, large Folio + Apparatus, (6) 570 (6) p. later Vellum with 5 raised bands, Folio. This is the last edition of the four great Polyglots, following that of Alcalá (1514-1517), in four languages, Antwerp (1569-1573), in five, and Paris (1628-1645) in seven. It’s the most extensive edition of the great Polyglot Bible, the London Polyglot, or the Walton Polyglot after the compilator Brian Walton, 1600-1661. According to Brunet, this edition “is the most sought after, being more complete and correct than the others, and containing nine different languages”, with Ethiopian and Persian added to the seven languages of the Paris Polyglot. So it includes the text of the Bible in 9 different languages, Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian. All of the texts which are not in Latin are accompanied by Latin translations and all are arranged side by side or one over another on the two pages open before the reader. The first three volumes contain the Old Testament. They give the Hebrew text with the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, the Aramaic Targum, and the Syriac and Arabic paraphrases. The fourth part contains the Apocrypha and the Triplex Targum, i.e. Targumim I and II of Jerusalem and the Persian version of Jacob ben Joseph Tawus. The fifth volume is devoted to the New Testament, printed in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopian. Finally, the last section contains the critical apparatus. Volume 1 is illustrated with multiple engravings in the text, a portrait of Brian Walton, a frontispiece, 2 plans, a map, and 3 engravings, all double-page except 1 plan. An extra volume by Brian Walton, the Apparatus, contains parts of the Polyglot such as codices, chronologies, proverbs, and Holy Land details. (Vol. 1 missing blank leaf after pp. 865. Spines restored, portrait and title print frayed, with creases, some browning, and staining.) A copy of the second edition, without the reference to Cromwell’s protectorate in the preface. It does not contain the dedicated epistle to King Charles II but does contain the one mentioned by Brunet at the beginning of the first volume, p. 48. From the library of the Scholasticate of Differt, Belgium, with dry-stamp and stamp on the title.
A firm and complete set of this influential work.
Darlow, T.H./Moule, H.F. (1963). Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture, Vol.II 1, no. 1446 on p. 23-26 / Wing B2797 / Brunet, I, 852.