: Philadelphia Rare Books

Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company - Early Printed Books, Substantive Manuscripts, U.S. and Latin Americana, Mexico & New World Languages, Hispanica, Histories & the History of Ideas, Travels, Cookery, Law, Religion, & Bibles (All Antiquarian)

THE PHILIPPINES

Extended MANUSCRIPT in anUNCOMMON PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE

Antonio Lobato de Santo Tomás. Manuscript in Ibanag on paper: “Quinque sermones in quinque precipuis festivitatibus B. Maria Virginis. Quibus accedunt sermo in feria quarta cinerumz et sermo in dominica 2o post octavam trinitatis. Per R. P. fray Antoniium Lobatao de Sto. Thomas. Tuguegarao, The Philippines: 1776–80. Small 4to. 196 pp.
$30,000.00

Click the interior images for enlargements.

• Precious few manuscript sources in the Ibanag language survive from the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. Only a handful of missionaries worked in the region of the northeastern Philippine provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, most notably in Tuguegarao City, Solana, Cabagan, and Ilagan, where the language was/is spoken; and not all mastered the tongue. Fray Antonio Lobato was one of those who did and it was he who took Fr. José Bugarin's Ibanag–Spanish dictionary, created in the previous century, and edited it to a usable work — though the result was not published until the 19th century, and, apparently, no other work was published in the language during the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries.

a large body of work set down in the Ibanag language, from the 18th century and as written/spoken by one of the seminal scholars of the language

Provenance: A signature “Fr. Antonio Lobato de Sto. Thomas” appears at the bottom of the last page and is almost certainly that of the the friar himself, which would mean that this is his autograph manuscript of the sermons.

• Contemporary very stiff vellum. Binding gnawed by a rodent with loss. Written on a good quality European paper, with some soiling and an occasional stain. No faults are serious and overall this is a remarkably good survival for an 18th-century Philippines manuscript. Now housed in a blue cloth clamshell box. (23668)

Psalms in Sangir / Sangihe / Sangirese: Siau

Bible. O.T. Psalms. Sangir. Kelling et al. 1901. Buke u Masmur ko susi. London: British & Foreign Bible Society, 1901. 8vo (19.2 cm; 7.5"). 222 pp.
$200.00

Sangir is an Austronesian language spoken inthe Philippines and Indonesia, especially in the Silawesi and Siau regions.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Uncommon: We locate only one copy in U.S. libraries.

• Darlow & Moule 7983. Publisher's red cloth. Very good copy. (25001)

First Pentateuch in thisIsland Language

Bible. O.T. Pentateuch. Pangasinan. 1912. Benitez. Saray simaran onaan á lebro'y Santa Biblia ya Genesis, Exodo, Levitico, Numero tan Deuteronomio. Manila: Sociedad Bíblica Británica y Extrangera, 1912. 12mo (18 cm; 7.25"). 541, [1 (blank) pp.
$950.00

The first translation of any book of the Bible into Pangasinan did not come about until 1887, followed by the first Testament in 1908 and the first complete Bible in 1915. This is the first printing of the Pentateuch. It was translated by Eduardo Benitez assisted by Teodoro Basconcillo and A. Rayner, all of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. It has chapter headings and some footnotes.

Rare. Searches of NUC Pre-1956, COPAC, and OCLC locate no copies in U.S. libraries and only the B.F.B.S. copy at Cambridge.

• North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 346. Publisher's flexible black fabric over light boards, stamped in blind on front cover; expertly rebacked and remnants of original spine reapplied. Small “nick” to fore-edge of first two leaves, without loss; paper a little age-toned, with interior otherwise quite clean. Housed in a dark blue cloth clamshell case. (25180)

ABCs around the WORLD — Illustrated

Diderot, Denis. Caractères et alphabets de langues mortes et vivantes (Extracted from the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers). [Paris: ca. 1750–72]. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). 24 double-p. plts. (of 25).
$500.00

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24 double-spread engraved plates

Encyclopédie

Languages charted in these tables include “Tartares Mouantcheoux,” Tamoul, Telongou, Persian (ancient and modern), Armenian, Russian (ancient and modern), Coptic, Hebrew, etc., with the engraving done by master artisan Robert Bénard (fl. 1750–85).

• Half green calf with green marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; slight wear to corners and spine extremities. Lacking one plate (#25). (24823)

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