Biblia arabica - Liber Psalmorum Davidis, regis et prophetae. Ex Arabico idiomate in latinum translatus. Opus tam sacrarum literarum, quam linguae arabicae studiosus utilissimum. Recens in lucem editus munificientia ... Francisci Savary de Brèves. With woodcut title vignette and armorial woodcut at the end. Rome, Stefano Paolini for Savariana, 1614. Cl.-4° (22.3 × 16 cm). [4] pp., 474 p., [1] leaf. Flexible parchment binding with spine title in manuscript (somewhat stained). Brunet IV, 921 - Ebert 18088 - Darlow-Moule 1641 - Lüthi 198 - First edition of the Arabic version of the Psalms and a masterpiece of oriental typography. The text was taken from the Peshitta (the Syriac standard version) and printed in the beautiful Arabic script of Savary de Brèves. François Savary de Brèves (1560-1628), a French diplomat, ambassador to Constantinople and Rome and one of the most important orientalists of his time, probably had this Arabic script modelled on a calligraphic manuscript from Qannubin, which is preserved in the Bibliotheca Vaticana. When he was appointed ambassador to the Vatican in 1608, he set up his own printing press. This was run by Stefano Paolini, a pupil of Giovanni Battista Raimondi, the head of the Typographia Medicea. Only two books were printed from this press, although the typeface was widely admired. - ACCESSORIES: ?s?gh?kh? Isagoge id est, breve Introductorium Arabicum, in Scientiam Logices: cum versione Latina. With etched armorial vignette on title. Rome, Stefano Paolini, 1625. [22] vols. - Fine, clean copy with two extremely rare impressions.