LUDOLF, Hiob.

Lexicon Æthiopico-latinum, exomnibus libris impressis, nonnullisque manuscriptis collectum; et cum docto quodam æthiope relectum accessit authoris grammatica, cum aliis nonnullis, quorum catalogum sequens pagina exhibebit. Nunc primùm in lucem editum, studio & curâ Johannis Michaelis Wanslebii, Mathem. & Orient. LL. Stud. Qui indicem Latinum, & appendicem operi addidit. [with] Grammatica Æthiopica. [and] Confessio fidei Claudii regis Aethiopiae.

      London, Thoman Roycroft, 1661. - Three works in one vol., small 4to (225 x 170 mm), pp. [xvi], 560 cols, pp. [40]; pp. [iv], 76; pp. [18]; with six manuscript pp. in Ethiopian script; first title printed in red and black; some light browning; occasional worming; contemporary vellum; head of spine slightly chipped without loss; red edges. First editions. After studying at Erfurt and Leiden, the German orientialist Ludolf ?travelled extensively to increase his linguistic knowledge. In 1649 in Italy he met an Ethiopian scholar, Abba Gregorius, who taught him Amharic and served as a valuable informant. From 1652 to 1678 he was in the employment of the duke of Saxe-Gotha. In 1683 he visited England to try to establish trade with Ethiopia, but, owing to obstacles raised by the Ethiopian Church, met with no success. For the rest of his life he devoted himself to study. His many publications did much to introduce to the West a knowledge of Ethiopic sources and history? (Cross pp. 1003?4).Fumagalli 1186; Gay 2593; Streit XVI 4290; Wing L3467, L3466, L3465.