Preces S. Niersis Clajensis Armeniorum Patriarchae, viginti quatuor linguis editae, Venice, 1823
A rare and fascinating polyglot devotional volume, Preces S. Niersis Clajensis presents the prayers of Saint Nerses IV the Gracious (Nerses of Lambron, 1102–1173), Patriarch of the Armenian Church, rendered in twenty four languages. Published at the Mekhitarist Monastery of San Lazzaro in Venice in 1823, this edition reflects the extraordinary scholarly and linguistic achievements of the Armenian monks, who established one of the most important centres of Oriental and polyglot printing in Europe.
Each prayer is printed in multiple languages, including Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, Persian, Russian, Polish, German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, and others. With its engraved frontispiece portrait of St. Nerses, this handsome Venetian edition is a remarkable witness to the international reach of Christianity and the scholarly culture of the 19th century Mekhitarist press.
Preces S. Niersis Clajensis Armeniorum Patriarchae, viginti quatuor linguis editae.
(Prayers of Saint Nerses of Clajensis, Patriarch of the Armenians, published in twenty four languages.)
Published in Venice: Ex Insula S. Lazari [Island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni, the Mekhitarist Armenian Monastery], 1823.
Provenance: Cortachy Castle Library (book label to front pastedown), seat of the Ogilvy family, Earls of Airlie, Angus, Scotland.
A very good contemporary full mottled calf leather hardback with tooled gilt decorative borders to covers and tolled gilt decoration to spine with gilt orange morocco title label. With light wear and worn bumped corners. Marbled endpapers and hinges intact. All soundly bound.
Text is bright and clean throughout. A few very minor spots to endpapers. Text block edges gilt. With frontispiece portrait of Saint Nerses Clajensis.
An attractive volume.
Text in multiple European languages.
(6) + 422pp + (2) Index.
Dimensions: approximately 156mm high x 99mm wide x 27mm.
Approximate weight 330g (unpacked).