Hierozoicon, sive Bipertitum opus de animalibus sacrae scripturae

Book Description

London: Thomas Roycroft, 1663. First edition. References: Wing B3386; Wood 245; Osleriana 2062 (later ed.).. Two volumes in one; folio (40cm); [96] pages, 1094 columns, [137] pages, 888 columns, [112] pages, and engraved portrait. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Title page printed in red and black. Text in Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages. Bound in contemporary vellum, embossed with "oriental" lozenge and with the gilt stamp of the Society of Writers to the Signet on both boards. Occasional light foxing; lower joint beginning to crack, with some vellum flaked away. Vellum scuffed and discolored. Early ownership inscription on title page. In an age distinguished by great intellectuals, Samuel Bochart stood out as one of the most learned. A master of Middle Eastern languages, he was invited to Stockholm by Queen Christina (in 1652) to study the important collection of Arabic scientific manuscripts there. The Queen gave Bochart an Arabic manuscript on animals as a gift upon his departure. That gift apparently engendered the Hierozoicon, an encyclopedic work on the zoology of the ancient Middle East, as recorded in the Bible. Bochart considers each animal mentioned in scripture and explores its treatment by ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic and Hebrew naturalists. Some of the Arabic sources, liberally quoted and translated, appear in print here for the first time.

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