20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

176 Geoffrey Roperfrom the New Testament. His printer, Jacob Mylius of Heidelberg, employedwood-blocks for whole pages of Arabic text: the results are not beautiful,but are mostly legible. 9 The Latin preface of Spey’s book contains an appealto the Christian princes of Europe, and of Protestant Germany in particular,to embark upon the work of printing Arabic bibles for export to MuslimAsia and Africa, which would be more effective, in his view, than sendingmissionaries. It seems unlikely that many copies reached Asia or Africa,but at least one copy did find its way to the Vatican in Rome, where it seemsto have acted as a spur to the production of improved versions of Arabictexts, in order to anticipate and counteract any such Protestant moves. 10The first fruit of this new Roman initiative in Arabic printing was thegreat edition of the Four Gospels printed at the Medici Press in 1590. 11This made use of Arabic types cut by the great French typographer RobertGranjon, who lived and worked in Rome from 1578 until his death in 1590,during which period he produced at least five series of Arabic punches. 12 Italso included some fine woodcut illustrations by Antonio Tempesta, whodrew his inspiration from Albrecht Dürer. 1500 copies of this edition wereprinted, and it was supplied to the Maronites in Lebanon, and to other partsof the Middle East, where it apparently made some impact. Tempesta’spictures are known to have influenced Coptic and Ethiopian miniaturepainting. 13But it was not until the 17 th century that Bibles and liturgical texts inArabic began to be supplied more regularly, and in significant quantities.In 1614 the former French ambassador in Istanbul, François Savary deBrèves, published in Rome an Arabic edition of the Psalms, using types,specially commissioned by him, of exceptional elegance and beauty. 14In the introduction he stated that he had edited and published it so that itshould become known in the Arab countries "to students and those whodesire it". It was probably distributed by the pupils of the Maronite Collegein Rome, and possibly also through the agency of the Amīr Fakhr al-Dīn II,who visited Italy at that time. 159[Bible: N.T.: Galatians.] Risālat Bawlus al-Rasūl ilá ahl Ghalāṭīya. EpistolaPauli ad Galatas, item sex primaria capita Christianae religionis Arabice. Quibus adfinem adiunctum est Compendium Grammatices Arabicae. Authore Rutghero Spey 1583,Heidelberg: Jacob Mylius.10Vervliet, 1981: 25-27.11[Bible: N.T.: Gospels.] Al-Injīl al-Muqaddas. 1590-91, Roma: TypographiaMedicea.12Vervliet, 1981, passim.13Christian Orient 1978: 31&4014[Bible: O.T.: Psalms.] Mazāmīr Dāwūd. 1614, Roma: Typographia Savariana.15Duverdier, 1973: 74-75.