Sancti Ephraim Syri Opera Omnia, Quae Extant, Graece, Syriace et Latine, ad Mss. Codices Vaticanus Aliosque Castigata, Multis Aucta, Nova Interpretatione Praefationibus, Notis, Variantibus Lectionibus Illustrata, in Sex Tomos

Ephraem, Syrus; Josephus Assemanus; Petrus Benedictus; Stephanus Evodius Assemanus; Ephrem; Ephraim

Romae Typographia Pontificia Vaticana : Salvioni, 1732

[The first collected edition of Saint Ephrem, the Syrian] 6 volumes. Folio, 37 x 25 cm.  Bound in contemporary vellum.  Leather spine labels.  Gilt ruled spine compartments.  Engraved frontispiece portraits and engraved vignettes.  Printed in two parallel text columns in Latin, Greek and Syriac.  Text is clean and unmarked.  A particularly handsome set.  Contents: Vols. 1-3. Graece, et Latine; Vols. [4]-[6]. Syriace, et Latine. 

Ephraem the Syrian (306-373 A.D.; Deacon of Edessa; Harp of the Holy Spirit; Doctor of the Church) was an hymnographer and Christian theologian.  He was a passionate believer in the power of poetry to glorify god.  Both the Syriac and Roman church claim him as a saint.  "The Syriac original was unknown in Europe until the fruitful Oriental voyage (1706-07) of the Maronites Gabriel Eva, Elias, and especially Joseph Simeon Assemani (1716-17), which resulted in the discovery of a precious collection of manuscripts in the Nitrian (Egypt) monastery of Our Lady. These manuscripts found their way at once to the Vatican Library." - Labourt, J. (1909). St. Ephraem, The Catholic Encyclopedia.  From these newly discovered manuscripts collected by Assemani, this work was translated.  

Vol. 1 dated 1732; v. 2 dated 1743; v. 3 dated 1746; v. [4] dated 1737; v. [5] dated 1740; v. [6] dated 1743.  Vols. 1-3 edited by Giuseppe Simone Assemani ; v. [4]-[5] edited by Petrus Benedictus ; v. [6] edited by Stefano Evodio Assemani.