Ludolfi Historia Aethiopica
Description
…sive brevis & succincta descriptio regni Habessinorum, quod vulgò malè Presbyteri Iohannis vocatur. Francofurti ad Moenum, Joh. David Zunner 1681.
altogether 4 titles in 1 volume, tied: Id., Ad suam historiam aethiopicam antehac editam commentarius .., ibid. 1691 / Id., Relatio nova de hodierno Habeßiniae statu … , ibid. 1693 / Id., Dissertatio de locustis …, ibid. 1694
Vol. 1: Portrait frontispiece (engraved, mezzotinto), title page, 8 copper plates (double-page or folded) , 2 genealogical plates (double-page)
Vol. 2: Portrait frontispiece (engraved), title page, portrait plate (mezzotinto), 8 copper plates (of which 3 are double-page), 631 pages, 1 unnumbered page, text partly printed in red
Vol. 3: Title vignette with portrait on reverse (engraved), 32 pages
Vol. 4: Title vignette (engraved), 2 copper plates (including 1 full-page), 88 pages.
Cover (leather), back gilt stamped; only slight signs of usage, lack of a map and a map supplement as well as one graved plate showing a coffin, 32.5 cm x 20.5 cm
According to VD17 (Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienene Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts) a very rare edition with all parts: 23:230532H, 23:230610L, 547:648814Y, 23:267504U. Ebert 12480 “Exx., in which these 4 parts are together, are sought and rare”. Brunet III, 1224.Paulitschke 1156 - The Erfurt orientalist Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704), also called Leutholf, is considered the founder of Ethiopian studies. His special interest in Ethiopia was aroused by his acquaintance with the Abyssinian theologian Abba Gorgoryos during a stay in Rome. When he was in the service of Duke Ernst I of Saxony-Gotha, Prince Abba invited Abba to Gotha and studied with Ludolf all the writings on Abyssinia accessible in order to present the guest with an extensive catalogue of questions. Together with Abba he developed a Ge’ez dictionary as well as the first dictionary of Amharic. The present work, of which the historical part appeared in 1681, was continued ten years later by his extensive commentary and by the two following volumes, one containing the State Constitution and the other a treatise on locusts. The subsequent volumes to the commentary have also been published with title variants as “Appendix …” and “Appendix secunda”.