Beschreibung:

[4], A4-DDD4, Eee2, Fff4-Hhh4. Translated from the Latin by J.P. Gent. Illustrated with 7 (of 8) engraved plates (some folding), 1 double page genealogical table, and one alphabet table. Floriated and historiated initials. (4to) 32.5x21.5 cm (12¾x8½"), rebound in brown buckram with a red morocco spine label. First English Language Edition. Lacks map and one plate. Pagination erratic, but text is continuous. Hiob or Job Ludolf (1624–1704), was a German orientalist recognized by the recently deceased scholar Edward Ullendorff as "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship". While searching in Rome for some documents at the request of the Swedish Court (1649), he became friends with Abba Gorgoryos, a monk from the Ethiopian province of Amhara, and acquired from him an intimate knowledge of the Ethiopian language. Again according to Ullendorff, "Ludolf's Ethiopic and Amharic dictionaries and grammars were of importance far transcending his own time and remained, for well over a century and a half, the indispensable tools for the study of these languages, while his monumental history of Ethiopia (with an extensive commentary) can still be read with profit as well as enjoyment." Institutional bookplate from Blumhaven Library. Plates include: Alphabet, p. 6. Indian Fig (folding), p. 48. Sheep (folding), p. 52. Apes (double-page, folding), p. 56. Marmosets (folding), p. 58. Elephants (double-page, folding), p. 58 Hippos (double-page, folding), p. 60. Genealogical table (double-page), p. 192 Coffin, p. 296.