Armenian Psalter (Book of Psalms), printed in Venice - San Lazzaro degli Armeni (Saint Lazarus) 1805
Stated number of 360 pages.
This extraordinary little volume is an Armenian Psalter (Book of Psalms / Saghmos Davti), printed in 1805 in Venice at the famous island monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni (Saint Lazarus).
Its production links it to one of the most remarkable stories of cultural preservation, language revival, and diaspora printing in European history.
The Mechitarist Monks and the San Lazzaro Press
Printed "’Ի ՎԵՆԵՏԻԿ" (In Venice) at "՚Ի Վանս Սրբոյն Ղազարու" (The Monastery of Saint Lazarus).
This was the headquarters of the Mechitarist Congregation, an order of Armenian Catholic monks founded by Abbot Mechitar of Sebastea. Having fled Ottoman persecution, they were granted this small, isolated Venetian island in 1717.
Turned into a powerhouse of intellectual revival, the monks set up a highly sophisticated printing press to produce religious, historical, and scientific texts in classical Armenian (Grabar). Because Armenia itself was divided and under foreign rule, San Lazzaro became a safe haven that effectively safeguarded and standardized the Armenian language and its literary heritage for centuries.
Napoleon's Rare Exception
The date 1805 is highly significant historically.
Just a few years earlier, in 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded and conquered the Republic of Venice, effectively abolishing its sovereignty. In the years that followed, Napoleon systematically suppressed, dissolved, and plundered almost all religious orders and monastic properties across the Venetian lagoons.
However, when Napoleon’s decree reached San Lazzaro, he made a rare and famous exception. Impressed by the academy's immense scientific, linguistic, and printing achievements, Napoleon issued a specific imperial decree sparing the Armenian monastery from abolition, explicitly recognizing it as a unique literary and cultural institution rather than merely a religious estate. This 1805 volume was printed right in the middle of that turbulent Napoleonic era.
Lord Byron’s Imminent Arrival
Only eleven years after this specific copy was printed, in 1816, the romantic poet Lord Byron arrived in Venice. Seeking a mental challenge to distract himself from his personal scandals, he traveled to San Lazzaro to study the Armenian language with the monks. He worked extensively with the very same fonts, presses, and instructional books produced by the monastery during this exact era, famously stating that discovering the Armenian culture gave him "a new mind."
As a physical artifact, this pocket-sized Psalter is a beautiful example of early 19th-century diaspora typography, featuring traditional Armenian woodcut headpieces, intricate initial letters and the iconic twisted column border on its title page.
80mm x 110mm x 16mm
Speckled calf binding; repaired. I’m unsure of the collation. Presumably the half title and the frontis piece are missing. As well as a contents page, if there was one.
R3,500
