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1657 Walton Polyglot, Item # Walton

The Magnificent 1657 Walton Polyglot

[Polyglot Bible.] Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, complectentia textus originales, Hebraicum, cum Pentateucho Samaritano, Chaldaicum, Graecum; versionumque antiquarum, Samaritanae, Graecae LXXII Interp., Chaldaicae, Syriacae; Arabicae; Aethiopicae, Persicae, Vulg. Lat., quicquid comparari poterat; cum textuum, et versionum orientalium translationibus Latinis… cum apparatu, appendicibus, tabulis, variis lectionibus, annotationibus, indicibus, etc… Edidit Brianus Waltonus, STD…London: Thomas Roycroft, [1655-]1657.

Six large folio volumes. Frontispiece engraving of Walton by Pierre Lombart. Engraved title, maps, and plates by Wenceslaus Hollar. Title within architectural columns (with Moses and Aaron, Adam and Eve, and Noah’s Ark) Engravings include the Temple (exterior and interior views), sacred vessels, and a map of Jerusalem.

Vol. I (Pentateuch): pp. [22], 58, 38, [3], 102 [i.e. 106], [2], 865.
Vol. II (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther): 889 (lacking pp. 1-4, i.e., two leaves), [1], 29, [1].
Vol. III (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Twelve Minor Prophets): 447, [1], 389, [1], 227, [1], 149, [1].
Vol. IV (Apocrypha): 87 (lacking pp. 1-4, i.e. two leaves), [5], 128, 23, [1], 20, 159, [1], 390.
Vol. V (New Testament): 983, [1].
Vol. VI (Appendix, containing critical essays, tables, variant readings, annotations, and indices): [2], 72, 56, 98 [i.e. 68], 80, 196, 140, 24, 58, 36, 36, 96 [i.e. 74], [2].

In sum lacks four leaves (first two-leaf gathering in Vols. II and IV).

Ruled in red throughout.

Some paper repairs: notable to title to Vol. III. Occasional light foxing, staining, or inoffensive worming.

Uniform plain modern calf.

An absolute masterpiece of exotic multi-lingual typography. All Hebrew texts provided with vowel pointings (nikud).
Fourth and finest of the great Polyglot Bibles, known as the London or the Walton Polyglot. “The most accurate and best equipped of the great Polyglots” (Darlow and Moule 1446). First to include Ethiopic and Persian. Edited by Dr. Brian Walton, consecrated Bishop of Chester in 1660 (d. 1661). The sheets were likely printed between 1653 and 1658. Book was probably first published in 1658; though some sets of sheets were not bound up and issued until after the Restoration.

This copy with the earlier “republican” Preface (as opposed to the “loyalist” preface, added post-Restoration). No later-inserted Dedication to Charles II.

De-accessioned from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, with their occasional discreet stamp.

Darlow and Moule 1446: q.v. for full contents, collation, and additional historical notes.