| Record ID | cp089161 |
| Voet reference number | New edition, not mentioned in The Plantin Press |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | c:lvd:7088512 |
| Author | Franciscus JUNIUS |
| Title page transcription | GRAMMATICA || HEBRAEAE LING- || GUÆ NUNC PRIMUM JUSTÆ || ARTIS METHODO QVAM AC- || curatiẞimè breviẞimeq́ fieri po- || tuit conformata, & in lu- || cem edita, || PER FRANC. JUNIUM || Biturigem. || ⊕ of A. Wechel || FRANCOFURTI, || Apud Andream Wechelum, || M. D. LXXX. || Cum privilegio Cæs. Majest. ad sexennum. |
| Collation | 4°: ã4 ẽ4 A-S4 T2 (Errors: E5 for E3); pages [1-16], 1-147, [148]. |
| Fingerprint | 158004 - # a1 ã2 er : # a2 ẽ3 imus - # b1 A . : # b2 T u |
| Number of sheets | 20.50 |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: Blank [3-4]: Dedication by Franciscus Junius to Philip Sidney (Otterburgo, Kal. Iulijs, 1580; italic type) [6-16]: Oration on the Hebrew language by Franciscus Junius (in schola Neapolitana, 1578; roman type) 1-147: Text (roman, parts in Hebrew and italic type, marginals in italic type and Hebrew) [148]: Blank |
| Edition information | André Wechel only printed the prelims (quires ã-ẽ); According to the ornamental initials, the printing of the main text (quires A-T) can be attributed to Christophe Plantin. |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus -A 344 (1) (part of a contemporary sammelband; bound together with a copy of Joannes Isaac Levita, Grammatica Hebraea, 1570) -B 2433 |
| Digital copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus: A 344 (1) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: 4 L.as. 167 Austrian National Library: 73.S.45 |
| Bibliographical references | Adams J 467 |
| Online bibliographical references | VD 16 D 2886 STCV 12923682 USTC 660419 |
| Note 1 | Each of the four libri begins with an ornamental initial. Torad, the repertory of ornaments used by Antwerp printers 1541–1600, identifies Christophe Plantin’s Antwerp workshop: -initial G on folio A1 recto: Torad IN00309 -initial E on folio C2 verso: Torad IN00314 -initial S on folio N1 recto: Torad IN00017 -initial P on folio P3 recto: Torad IN00094 |
| Note 2 | Three additional elements reinforce Plantin’s identification as the printer. 1) The prelims have separate quire signatures using lower case vowels with tildes, a highly unusual system for Plantin’s workshop. Separate signing of prelims and body is also convenient in case an edition was printed in two different workshops. 2) The main text consistently used a different title compared to the title page. Each book of the main text starts with the title Grammaticae Hebraeae liber primus (secundus...) without the title word ‘lingua’. 3) Contrary to the main text, the prelims do not contain a single Hebrew character. |
| Note 3 | Apparently, Plantin printed the main text of the Hebrew grammar on behalf of André Wechel. Plantin’s collaboration is not mentioned anywhere in the edition. Presumably, he did not feel it necessary to disclose a collaboration with a Calvinist publisher and author. After studying in Geneva, the French theologian Franciscus Junius became minister in Antwerp in 1565. He was suspected as one of the instigators of the Iconoclastic Fury in the Netherlands and fled to Heidelberg. |
| Note 4 | Franciscus Junius dedicated the Hebrew grammar to the English court poet and diplomat Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586). Through mutual friends, Junius and Sidney probably met in Heidelberg in the spring of 1577. During this period, the diplomat Sidney travelled across Germany to the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. Thanks to Sidney’s mediation, Franciscus Junius and Isaac Tremellius’ translation of the Bible was also published in England in 1580. Junius thanked Sidney for this favour with the dedication of the Hebrew grammar. |
| Note 5 | The shipment of the Hebrew grammar is well documented in the Plantin-Moretus. On 11 August 1580, Plantin sent a thousand copies by boat to Frankfurt (Arch. 58, Journal 1580, folio 102 verso). The grammar was packed in two barrels together with 120 copies of the latest volume of Joannes Goropius Becanus’ collected works (cp013073). The tax on the export of the two barrels was already paid on 9 August (Arch. 58, Journal 1580, folio 102 recto). Christophe Plantin kept some copies for himself. Presumably, he received a proportionate number of preliminary works from André Wechel. After all, no variant edition is known with Plantin’s imprint on the title page. The Hebrew grammar is mentioned in the printed sales catalogues of 1584 and 1596. Presumably the stock was exhausted by 1615, as the grammar was no longer included in the printed sales catalogue that year. |
| Note 6 | André Wechel’s heirs published a second edition of the Hebrew grammar in 1590 and a third in 1596. These editions were printed in Geneva by Jean de Tournes II. |
| Further reading | Kristof Selleslach, ‘Het ornamentenrepertorium Torad aan het werk. Enkele aanvullingen bij en correcties op het uitgeversfonds van Christoffel Plantijn’, in Jaarboek voor Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis, 2011, 133-154. Available on DBNL: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_jaa008201101_01/_jaa008201101_01_0007.php |
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