Psaltērion Psalterium: Juxta Exemplar Alexandrinum
edited by Thomas Gale
| Psalterion Psalterium | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
||
| Editor | Thomas Gale | |
| Published | Oxoniæ: E. Theatro Sheldoniano | |
| Date | 1678 | |
Thomas Gale was an academic scholar and clergyman. He devoted study to a wide variety of disciplines, including "scientific, theological, and historical pursuits[.]"[1] He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a BA in 1659, and with a MA in 1662.[2] He was ordained in 1666.[3] He briefly held the Regius Professorship at Cambridge in 1672, but he soon left to assume the position of high-master at St Paul’s School in London, where he remained until 1697.[4] Other notable positions include membership in the Royal Society and serving as the Dean of York.
Gale published many works within the field of classics, including "Opuscula mythologica, ethica et physica," and "Rhetores selecti."[5] Both of these works versions of Greek originals that Gale edited or compiled.
Gale’s "Psalterium" is a translation of the Book of Psalms from Greek into Latin. It claims to be derived from a Greek copy of the scripture that was sent to Charles I from Cyril Lucaris, Patriarch of Alexandria.[6]
The book is structured so that the left side pages remain in the original Greek, while the right side provides the corresponding Latin translation. The left and right pages mirror each other for easy comparison and clarity. The book’s introductory note includes a disclaimer that a few Psalms have been added in, and that some points of grammatical disjunction have been omitted. [7] Otherwise, the translation seems to be a faithful reproduction of the original.
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Thomas Jefferson listed "Psalterion. Gr. Lat. 12mo." in his inventory of Wythe's Library, noting that he kept the volume himself. He later sold a copy to the Library of Congress in 1815. Unfortunately, the volume no longer exists to verify Wythe's prior ownership or the exact edition.[8] Both Brown's Bibliography[9] and George Wythe's Library[10] on LibraryThing base their inclusion of the 1678 Oxford edition on Millicent Sowerby's entry in Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson.[11] The Wolf Law Library has been unable to find a copy of this edition of this title.
See also
- The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments
- Jefferson Inventory
- Hē Kainē Diathēkē. Novum Testamentum
- Tes Kaines Diathekes Apanta = Novum Testamentum
- Tēs Kainēs Diathēkēs Hapanta = Novum Testamentum
- Hē Palaia Diatheke Kata tous Hebdomenkonta = Vetus Testamentum Græcum
- Wythe's Library
References
- ↑ "Gale, Thomas," Doggett, Nicholas, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 Sept 2004.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Psalterion, trans. Thomas Gale (Oxoniae, 1678). https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_-psalterium-_bible-greek-and-latin_1678.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 4:475-476, no.4399.
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, 2009, rev. 2023) Microsoft Word document (on file at the Wolf Law Library, William & Mary Law School).
- ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe", accessed on July 11, 2025.
- ↑ Sowerby, Catalogue, 475.