In 1517[308] the Complutensian Polyglot had been printed at Alcala, at the charges of Cardinal Ximenes, in six volumes, containing the Sacred Text, in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Chaldean, including an “Apparatus” consisting of a Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, etc. This work will always be famous, if for no other reason, for the grand, bold Greek type in which the Septuagint and New Testament are printed.
In 1572 the Antwerp Polyglot of Arias Montanus was printed, in eight magnificent volumes, by Christopher Plantin. It comprises the whole of the Complutensian texts, with the addition of the Syriac, and an Apparatus containing Lexicons and Grammars of Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Greek.
In 1645 the Paris Polyglot, edited by Le Jay and others, was published in ten sumptuous volumes. It comprises the whole of the texts of the Antwerp Polyglot, with the addition of Arabic and Samaritan. Owing to the abrupt completion of this work, no Apparatus was included of any description. This work was seventeen years in the press.
The London Polyglot, as we shall observe, added to the languages used in the Paris Polyglot, the Persian and Ethiopic, with an Appendix containing additional Targums, also a complete “Apparatus” and Prolegomena, with alphabetical tables of the various languages employed, and others besides. {170}
The following table will show clearly the gradual advances made by the four great Polyglots in respect of the versions they comprise[309]:—
| COMPLUTUM, 1520. | ANTWERP, 1572. | PARIS, 1645. | LONDON, 1657. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Test., Heb. | Old Test., Heb. | Old Test., Heb. | Old Test., Heb. |
| 2 | Vulgate, Lat. | Vulgate, Lat. | Vulgate, Lat. | Vulgate, Lat. |
| 3 | Septuagint, Gr. Lat. | Septuag. Gr. Lat. | Septuag., Gr. Lat. | Septuag., Gr. Lat. |
| 4 | Pentat., Chal. Lat. | Old Test., Chal. Lat. | Old Test., Chal. Lat. | Old Test., Chal. Lat. |
| 5 | New Test., Gr. Lat. | New Test., Gr. Lat. | New Test., Gr. Lat. | New Test., Gr. Lat. |
| 6 | ..... | New Test., Syriac, Heb. Lat. | New Test., Syriac, Heb. Lat. | New Test., Syriac |
| 7 | ..... | ..... | Old Test., Syriac Lat. | Old Test., Syriac |
| 8 | ..... | ..... | Bible, Arab. Lat. | Bible, Arab. |
| 9 | ..... | ..... | Pentat., Samar. Lat. | Pentat., Samar. |
| 10 | ..... | ..... | ..... | Pentat. Gospels, Per. Lat. |
| 11 | ..... | ..... | ..... | Ps., Cant. New Test., Eth. Lat. |
| 12 | ..... | ..... | ..... | Add. Targums |
| 13 | Apparatus | Apparatus | ..... | Apparatus, Proleg., etc. |
The first announcement of the London Polyglot was made in 1652, when Dr. Walton published A Brief Description of an Edition of the Bible in the Original Hebrew, Samaritan, and Greek, with the most ancient Translations of the Jewish and Christian Churches, viz. the Sept. Greek, Chaldee, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Persian, etc., and the Latin versions of them all; a new Apparatus, etc.[310] {171} This Description, which set forth the various improvements in the proposed Polyglot on its predecessors, was accompanied by a specimen-sheet[311] containing the first twelve verses of the first chapter of Genesis in the following order: On one side, Hebrew with interlinear Latin translation, Latin (Vulgate), Greek (Septuagint) with Latin, Chaldean paraphrase with Latin, Hebrew-Samaritan, Samaritan. On the other side, Syriac with Latin, Arabic with Latin, Latin translation of the Samaritan, Persian with Latin. The imprint to this highly interesting specimen (a copy of which is said to be in the Library of Sydney College, Cambridge) was: Londini, Typis Jacobi Flesher; from which it appears that James Flesher was the first possessor of some of the types cast by the polyglot founders, and subsequently used by Roycroft in this great work.[312]
Flesher’s Specimen, which we have unfortunately not been able to discover, met with many critics. Amongst others was Dr. Boate, the Dutch scholar (who had already found fault with the Hebrew character used in the Paris Polyglot, which he described as “a very scurvy one, and such as will greatly disgrace the work”), was very disparaging to the new undertaking. It was probably in deference to this critic that Dr. Walton added the following MS. note to the copy of the specimen now at Sydney College, Cambridge: “Typos Hebr. et Syr. cum punctis meliores, parabimus, etc.”
The time occupied in securing the co-operation and assistance of the learned men of the day, in getting subscribers,[313] in arranging copy, and finally in {172} providing the necessary types, delayed the commencement of the undertaking till September 1653. Writing to Usher on July the 18th of that year, Dr. Walton thus notes the near completion of the preliminary arrangements: “I hope we shall shortly begin the work; yet I doubt the founders will make us stay a week longer than we expected. . . . We have resolved to have a better paper than that of 11s. a ream, viz., of 15s. a ream.”[314]
Towards the end of September 1653, the impression of the first volume was begun at the press of Thomas Roycroft, in Bartholomew Close, whose name will always be honourably associated with this famous work.