LIBRARY NOTES
After a visit and tour of the Library's rare book stacks on November 15, 2006, member Marion Edel generously donated a pristine copy of the
New Testament in Greek which had been in her family for many years. The book is bound in vellum and was printed in Amsterdam in 1678 by Louis (1604-1670) and Daniel (1626-1680) Elzevir, members of a family of much-sought-after printers. Research by Arevig Caprelian, Rare Book Librarian, reveals that there are only six other reported copies of this gem, held by Princeton and Oxford Universities and the Library of Congress, among others.
Lodewijk (Louis) Elzevir, born in 1540, was the patriarch of the famous Dutch
printing firm (the name is also spelled Elsevier and Elzevier). His legacy was carried
on until 1712, with the last-known involved family members being the widow of Jean
Elzevir (1661-1681) and their heirs. Showing the cosmopolitan nature of early
modern Amsterdam, the Elzevirs printed a wide range of works in many languages -
mostly Latin, but also Greek, French, Italian, Dutch, German, and Semitic tongues. English was the least popular: Bonaventura Elzevir's 1634 stock list names only seven books in English, compared to 500 in French and 307 in Italian.
In order to protect French Jansenist authors from accusations of Calvinism, the Elzevirs published some volumes under fictitious or anonymous imprints in Liège or Cologne. However, despite the nobility of concealing their proud name to
protect others, the Elzevirs were not above pirating popular works such as French plays.
This marvelous Greek New Testament joins five other Elzevir family imprints among our holdings, three of which are in
the Sharpe Collection.
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