239d Hyde, Thomas. (1636-1703) Catalogus impressorum librorum bibliothecæ Bodleianæ in academia Oxoniensi. Cura & opera Thomæ Hyde e Coll. Reginæ Oxon. Protobibliothecarii.

Oxford: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1674

$2,500

Folio, 8 x 14 in. First folio edition; first edition edited by Hyde. *2, **4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Ooo4 (lacking blank Ooo4), A-Z4 (I2 and I3 reversed), Aa-Ll4, Mm2. Large engraved vignettes appear on the title, at the first page of each new letter, and other places. This copy is bound in modern quarter calf over marbled boards with gilt tooled compartments and a gilt label. The leaves are in good condition with intermittent worming that is stronger towards the beginning. One former owner has noted which volumes from the catalogue are also in his or her collection in manuscript throughout the text.
Hyde was librarian, scholar, and master of exotic languages. His expertise in the latter capacity is easily recognized upon perusing the pages of his catalogue of the Bodley’s holdings. Neither Arabic nor Hebrew are spared use, attention, or exactness. The scholarly depth and attention to detail which Hyde brought to his job as chief librarian (1665-1701) are eminently obvious in this magnificent catalogue. This is the first folio edition—a grand presentation on behalf of the Bodley, courtesy of Thomas Hyde. Hyde was first and foremost an orientalist. He “received his first instruction in oriental languages from his father. At the age of sixteen he proceeded to King’s College, Cambridge, where he became a pupil of Wheelock, the professor of Arabic. He now devoted himself particularly to Persian, and, on Wheelock’s recommendation, assisted Walton in the publication of the Persian and Syriac versions of the Polyglott Bible. For this work he transcribed, into its proper alphabet, the Persian translation of the Pentateuch which had been published in Hebrew characters at Constantinople; he also added a Latin translation. In 1658 Hyde migrated to Queen’s College, Oxford, where he became reader of Hebrew. He proceeded M.A. by order of the chancellor of the university, Richard Cromwell, after reading one lecture in the schools on oriental languages in April 1659. In the same year he became underkeeper of the Bodleian Library, and on 2 December 1665 was unanimously elected chief librarian. He was made prebendary of Salisbury cathedral in 1666, archdeacon of Gloucester in 1673, and received the degree of D.D. in 1682. He succeeded Pocock as Laudian professor of Arabic in December 1691, and became regius professor of Hebew and canon of Christ Church in July 1697. In April 1701 Hyde resigned the librarianship of the Bodleian on the twofold ground that he was tired of the drudgery of daily attendance, and was anxious to complete his work ‘upon hard places’ in Scripture. For a long period, during the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William III, he held the post of interpreter and secretary in oriental languages to the government. He died on 18 February 1702/3 at his rooms in Christ Church.” (DNB)

Wing O-864; Grolier/Breslauer & Folter 69; Pollard & Ehrman 318