"ONE OF THE FIRST EXAMPLES OF A CLASSICAL ARABIC POEM QUOTED AND TRANSLATED": METOSCITA'S 1624 LATIN-ARABIC GRAMMAR, FINE FIRST EDITION UNCUT IN ORIGINAL BOARDS

METOSCITA, Petrus. Institutiones linguae Arabicae ex diversis Arabum monumentis collectae, & ad quammaximam fieri potuit brevitatem, atque ordinem revocatae. Rome: Stefano Paolini, 1624. Octavo, original stiff paper boards, old paper spine label with ink manuscript shelf numbers, uncut and unopened; pp. [xvi], 256. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $6000.

First edition of Metoscita's (al-Matushi's) elementary grammar in Latin and Arabic to assist in the teaching of Arabic. A fine, uncut and unopened copy in the original stiff paper boards.

Metoscita (al-Matushi), a Maronite from Cyprus, was one of the first pupils of the Maronite College in Rome and joined the Society of Jesus in 1597. He composed this elementary grammar in Latin to assist in the teaching of Arabic. On page 227 "we find one of the first examples of a classical Arabic poem quoted and translated" (Smitskamp). This book is dedicated by the publisher, Stefano Paolini, to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who had commissioned its publication. (Paolini had previously published two other Arabic grammars, Martelotti's in 1620 and Scialac's in 1622.) It is "excellently printed with the 16 point Arabic types of Savary de Brèves. At the end a grammatical analysis of Psalm 34 is given following the example of Bellarmino's grammar" (Smitskamp). Text in Latin and Arabic. Le livre et le Liban 73. Schnurrer 59. Smitskamp, Philologia orientalis 190. Sommervogel V 1028.

Most minor discoloration to boards. A splendid uncut and unopened copy, scarce and most desirable in such fine condition in original stiff paper boards.