Darlow and Moule, quoted above, note the importance of this edition; Dibdin additionally praises the work as “undoubtedly one of the most magnificent publications of the sacred text that ever appeared.” The volume bears an engraved frontispiece and title-page vignette, plus engraved headpieces and decorative capitals done by M. Burg, i.e., Michael Burghers. Burghers (1653–1727) was born in Amsterdam, worked initially at Utrecht, and fled to England after the capture of Utrecht by the French in 1672; he settled in Oxford in 1673. There he worked under David Loggan and succeeded him as engraver to the University.

This is one of Oxford's truly beautiful Greek Bibles.

•  Darlow & Moule 4725; Dibdin, I, 143–46; ESTC T94899. On Mill, see: Oxford DNB online.   Period-style black calf framed and panelled in gilt rolls, frame embellished with blind-tooled roll, panel with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with original gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Board edges and turn-ins tooled in blind; binding signed in blind on lower rear turn-in by Grace Bindings. Lower edges of closed book institutionally rubber-stamped; first text page with inked numerals in lower margin. Frontispiece backed and upper inner corner of blank margin of same gone missing prior to mounting. Title-page with tear from lower margin extending into vignette, repaired some time ago. Moderate waterstaining, mostly to outer margins, of a number of leaves; a few pages with offsetting, occasionally dark; scattered instances of small spots of foxing. One leaf with upper outer corner repaired, affecting outermost edge of headpiece. A grand production.  (24836)

The “Secunda editio, a mendis purgata” on the title-page refers to corrections made in the 1717 edition of errors found in the 1708 edition. The line “cura et studio Johannis Leusden et Caroli Schaaf. Editum ad omnes editiones diligenter recensitum; & variis lectionibus, magno labore collectis, adornatum” tells the readers that Leusden (1624–99) and Schaaf (1646–1729), two of the leading scholars of Syriac in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, made this the edition one they can rely upon.

The editors did not see eye to eye on the matter of pointing, and up through Luke 17.26 Leusden's preference (based on the Chaldean system) was used — after which Schaarf began using the system favored by the Walton Polyglott — Leusden having died at that editorial point in the project!

Title in Syriac at head of title-page, which page is printed in red and black and has an engraved printer's device. There are woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials in the text, which is printed with the Syriac text in parallel columns with a Latin translation, in double-column format. A handsome production.

•  Kubler, A New History of Stereotyping, pp. 39–41. Darlow & Moule 8969.   Recent full brown calf, old style by Grace Bindings: raised bands, gilt ruling above and below the bands as accents, gilt center devices in spine compartments. Covers with concentric compartments accomplished using rules, rolls, and corner devices. Private presentation inscription to an Episcopal diocesan library on reverse of last leaf, with no other markings at all; a clean, satisfactory copy.  (23054)

•  Brunet, II, 1119; Darlow & Moule 4560. Recent period-style full morocco, framed and panelled in blind rolls with blind-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments (signed by Grace Bindings in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in). Lower margin of title-page with a defunct library’s old presentation rubber-stamp. A few instances of light foxing, most pages clean and the margins beautifully wide.

•  Gaskell (enlarged ed.) Add. 1; Darlow & Moule 4755.   Contemporary lightly-diced calf, rebacked. Covers with gilt borders of a double-rule and a chain roll. All edges marbled; different marbling for endpapers. Occasional spot of foxing here and there.  (19274)

Darlow and Moule call this polyglot “the most inclusive since the London polyglot.” Bagster first attempted his massive feat in 1822, but virtually all of that edition was destroyed in a warehouse fire. A second attempt came in 1829, but this is, decidedly, the most satisfactory fulfillment of his extraordinary efforts.

Binding:  Contemporary oxblood morocco, covers framed and panelled in multiple gilt rules; spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled compartments. All edges gilt.

•  Darlow & Moule 1456.   Bound as above. Front joint and hinge tender from the weight of this oversized volume, with leather rubbed at front joint; corners and spine extremities rubbed; spine with one tiny hole, sides with a few small scuffs (back cover with one slightly deeper scrape), gilt rubbed in some spots. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped, with traces of a now-absent bookplate; lower (closed) page edges rubber-stamped; a few text pages rubber-stamped in lower margin. Half-title with inked presentation inscription dated 1936. One leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text. Two pages with minor offsetting from a small laid-in flower.  (25044)