Javier, Jerónimo

[two words in Persian, then] Historia Christi Persice conscripta, simulque multis modis contaminata.

      Lugduni Batavorum: Ex Officina Elseviriana, 1639. 4to (20.6 cm, 8.1"). [24], 636, [4 (index)] pp. [with, as issued, the same author's] [three words in Persian, then] Historia S. Petri Persice conscripta, simulque multis modis contaminata. Latine reddita, & brevibus animadversionibus notata ... Lugduni Batavorum: Ex Officina Elseviriana, 1639. [8], 144 pp. First edition, Elzevir printing of the Historia Christi Persice and Historia S. Petri Persice, with the original Persian texts edited and translated into Latin by Lodewijk de Dieu. Jerónimo Javier (or Xavier, 1549-1617) was a Jesuit missionary to the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar. De Dieu (1590-1642), also known as Louis de Dieu, was a Dutch Protestant minister and orientalist who was for some time one of the foremost European scholars of Persian; his Persian grammar was sometimes bound with the Historia Christi Persice, although that is not the case here. Each title-page was printed in red and black with the printer's device, and the first work bears a dedicatory verse by Daniel Heinsius. Willems 490; Copinger 5255; Palau 376807-8; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 1339. Contemporary vellum, covers framed in blind with blind-tooled central medallion, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum lightly soiled overall, upper outer front corner bumped, splits in spine vellum repaired with Japanese paper and minor (expert) repair to joints. Upper outer corner of title-page with early inked ownership inscription in both Persian and English, possibly by orientalist Henry Pitts Forster (1766-1815); title-page with shadows of other annotations. Pages age-toned, with upper portions darkened; scattered light spotting towards back of volume. Eleven leaves with small spots of worming, affecting a few letters without loss of sense; light to moderate waterstaining to portions of leaves towards back of volume. Last leaf with small tear without loss. One page with pencilled annotations.