(AFRICA--MISSIONS.) BIBLE. Novum Testamentum Domini Nostri Salvatoris Jesu Christi, in Linguam Amharicum. Title in Amharic and separate title in English, approximately 650 unnumbered pages. Small, fat 8vo, each book of the Testament with separate title page. Original blind-stamped reddish brown leather, front cover partially detached; chip to the spine; some wear to the edges, internally clean. Basel: Frederick Spitler, 1866
probable second edition of the new testament in Amharic. While the Bible was translated into Ge'ez as early as the fourth century, translations into the more commonly spoken Amharic did not appear until the nineteenth century. The first translation was done by Abu Rumi, and the French Consul, Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville. The present edition is the Rumi/Cherville translation.
