Subject: Theology -- Study and teaching

A Hebrew grammar textbook compiled by Sidney Willard, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at Harvard College. Published in 1817 by Hilliard & Metcalf at the University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The book features dual Hebrew-English text on nearly every page. This particular copy is in rubbed but sound condition, bound in its original calf-backed marbled paper-covered boards. The book's preface argues for its necessity due to the high cost of suitable Hebrew grammars for theology students. Internal evidence suggests that Willard was aware of other contemporary Hebrew grammars published in New England. The book contains ownership inscriptions from E. B. Hall (1819), a Unitarian Minister and Harvard student, and Samuel Presbury (1822), a Harvard graduate and Unitarian Minister. Offered for sale by Rulon-Miller Books on October 27, 2009, for $285.00. (5 x 8 1/2 inches; 86 pages)

First edition of Josiah W. Gibbs's *A Manual Hebrew and English Lexicon, Including the Biblical Chaldee*, published in Andover in 1824 by Flagg and Gould for the author. This compendium condenses the author's previous Hebrew and English lexicon, designed for students in higher schools and colleges. Gibbs (1790-1861), a distinguished philologist and pioneer of American higher-critical scripture scholarship, was a professor of theology and sacred literature at Yale University. The book's preface explains its purpose as an aid for students in their early stages of Hebrew study. Gibbs's significance in American biblical scholarship and his role as a key witness in the Amistad trial (1839-1840), where he helped locate a translator for the Mende-speaking defendants, are also noted.