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[GETMAN’S OFFICER LIBRARY] Salomonis Glassii Philologia sacra, qua totius ss. Veteris et novi Testamenti scripturae tum stylus et literatura, tum sensus et genuinae interpretationis ratio et doctrina libris quinque expenditur ac traditur qui absoluuntur philologia b. auctori speciatim sic dicta, grammatica et rhetorica sacra [A Treatise on the Styles, Literature, Meanings, and Genuine Interpretation of the Entire Old and New Testament Scriptures, Presented and Explained in Five Volumes, Complete with the Author's Specialized Philologies, Namely, Sacred Grammar and Rhetoric]

Glasssius, Salomo [Glass, Salomon], Jo. Francisci Buddei [Joannes Franciscus Budddeus], Johannes Gothofredus Olearius [Johannes Gottfried Olearius]

Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Apud Jo. Fridericum Gleditschium [By Johann Friedrich Gleditsch], 1743. Item #1935

[18], 6-32, [16], 2138 columns (i.e. 1069 pp.), [107] pp. Quatro, 23 x 18 cm. Edition novissima [New edition]. Copper engraving of the author’s portrait on the frontispiece. Period vellum with embossed gilt spine. Engraved decorative headpieces, tailpieces, initials. In Latin, some Hebrew and Greek.

Good condition. Slight damage to the top of the spine. Bookplate pasted down to the front endpaper. Library number in ink on the title, pre-revolutionary library stamp on the title and cols. 43-45, 305-306, 589-590, 793-794, 1037-1038, 1293-1294. Ink and pencil numbers on the front and back endpapers. Minor foxing. Owner’s marks on the first pages. Marginalia in ink on col. 1915.

The inscription on the bottom margin title, p. 1, 3, 5, 7. reads Ex libris Nicolai Chanenko Signiferi Generalis [i.e. From the books of Mykola Khanenko, the Grand Standard-Bearer].
Mykola Khanenko (1693 - 1760) was a prominent Ukrainian politician, scholar and writer. Starting his military career at 17 under Peter the Great, Khanenko rose from a scripture to the one of the most respected titles in the army. He became what is known as khorunzhiy, an officer responsible for bearing the standard for the Getman’s army. Grand Standard Bearer was an official title in the Zaporozhian Cossack army and was a high official rank.
Khanenko meticulously studied for years - first in Kyiv Academy in Lviv, later on his own: he was a proponent of something known today as lifelong education. He became a polyglot, keen in Latin, wrote poetry in different languages and translated Latin books into Russian.
This attentiveness and encyclopaedic education made him a person close to the Getman figure: he was akin to procurator for both Ivan Skoropadsky and Pavel Polubotok. Polubotok and Khanenko were imprisoned by Peter the Great for a number of years after submitting a plea to choose a new Getman in a democratic way. Freed in 1726, Khanenko took part in the Russian-Turkish war in Crimea.

Later Khanenko switched to compiling the Ukrainian (Malorossian) law codex. His activities and interests do show the reality of Cossack officers: a tough, but educated, democratic and self-governing community.
Khanenko also left one of the first ever written memoirs on Ukrainian life of the era. He consistently wrote a diary from 1719 to 1754 and it was published a century later Chteniya v Imperatorskom Obschestve. Moskva: V Universitetskoi tipografii, 1858. // Diariusch ili Zhurnal…). His love for books and interest in religious studies was in detail reviewed by some scientists, among which an article inquired in great detail, describing the presumably personal library of Khanenko of at least 150 books. His diary notes dozens of Latin books: bought, gifted, sent for binding, translated. Most of those are historical, scientific and religious editions (Bilokin', S. Knyzhni interesy Mykoly Khanenka // προσφώνημα. Istorychni ta filolohichni rozvidky… no. 5, pp. 117-124. L'viv, 1998). Later the volume left Khanenko family library and for some time was a part of the Novgorodseverskaja gimnazia library. This is shown by the rubber stamp visible across different pages and a librarian inscript - both clearly dated as pre-1917.
The library inscript in walnut ink runs through the bottom margin of the frontispiece, p. 1 and p. 3 stating the book “Belongs to Novgorodseverskaja gimnazia”. The Novgorod-Seversk gymnasium was a Russian Empire secondary school active 1808-1918 within the modern Chernigov region of the Western Ukraine. The gymnasium is considered one of the oldest schools situated within the historical Ukraine territory, with Ukrainian classic writer Panteleimon Kulish (1819-1897) and teacher Konstantin Ushinskiy (1823-1870) among its pupils.
Closer to the modern days, during the 20th century the book was a part of Prof. Jurgis Baltrušaitis (1903-1988) collection. Baltrušaitis was a son of a known symbolist poet and Lithuanian ambassador in Soviet Russia. He was an art historian specialising in the styles and spiritual phenomena of the Middle Age, thus the book suited his collection well. The bookplate depicts his satirical self-portrait.

Salomon Glass (1593-1656) was a German theologian, Jena professor since 1620’s specialising in Hebraism. Editor of the Nuremberg Bible. This encyclopaedic Philologia sacra is his major work. With the 1st edition of the 1st vol issued in 1623, the five vols. present in this book were completed by 1636 and subsequently reissued a number of times.

The work is divided into five parts. Glassius looks into philology as a tool to understand the Holy scripture, and describes the methods to use this tool. He provides a system of biblical literature and examines different languages used in them, including literal and figurative meanings of the tropes. This systematic approach is considered a great example of the new research practices in theology and the encyclopedia became a classic.

Price: $4,500.00