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1638 Rare Text Item # EB1010

Rare Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

[GROSSETESTE, Robert.] The Testaments of th e twelve Patriarchs, the sons of Jacob: translated out of Greeke into Latine by Robert Grosthead, sometime Bishop of Lincolne: and out of his Copie into French and Dutch by others: and now Englished. To the credit whereof, an ancient Greeke Copy, written in parchment, is kept in the University Librarie of Cambridge. [woodcut of Jacob, signed RB repeated on A7v] Printed at London, by R[obert] Y[oung] for the Companie of Stationers, 1638.

Based on the 13th-Century translation into Latin from a Greek manuscript by Robert Grosseteste, Englished anonymously by A. Gilby. Prefac e to the Christian Reader signed Richard Day.

FIRST EDITION. Foolscap octavo; mostly Black Letter; A-K8, L4. Illustrated with woodcuts of Jacob (repeated) the Twelve Patriarchs; 14 total.

Full mottled calf, gilt extra, by Bedford. All edges gilt. Front joint professionally repaired. Some headlines just shaved. Som e typed descriptive notes tipped in at front from an earlier dealer. Fine.

Provenance: From the renowned Estelle Doheny collection, with her small red morocco ex-libris.

STC 19473 (noting that the British Museum copy is the only known). No other copy known in the United States.