Saxon, with a Latin translation, and an excellent commentary.

The best edition, however, that has yet appeared, is that published by the celebrated Anglo-Saxon scholar Rasmus Rask, accompanied by a Danish translation and critical remarks.-See "Samlede tildels forhen utrykte Afhandlinger af R. K. Rask". Del. 1. Köbenhavn. 1834; 8vo.

(2.)

IBN-FODHLAN. 921.

Ibn-Fodhlan, or to give him his name fully and correctly, Ahmad Ben-Fodhlan Ibn al Abbas BenAssam Ben-Hamad, was, in the year 921 of our era, sent by the Abasside khaliph Almuktsadir Billah as companion to an ambassador to the king of WolgaBulgharia, or according to Yakut,' to the Sclaves. In this journey he met with the Wolga Russians, who had come hither in ships to trade; and his narrative contains a remarkable and circumstantial representation of the manners and customs of these Russians.

Ibn-Fodhlan's account indeed, as could not fail to be the case, was known to other ancient Arabian authors; and, as we now discover on nearer comparison, was used by them, but is only completely preserved in Yakut, through whose medium he was first made known to Europeans in the following publi

cations

Author of the well-known "Muajim Albuldan", a very valuable alphabetical dictionary of countries.

Die ältesten arabischen Nachrichten über die Wolga-Bulgharen aus Ibn-Foszlan's Reise-Berichte. In the Mémoires de l'Acad. Imp. des Sciences de St. Pét. VI. ser. t. i. St. Petersb. 1832, p. 527, etc.

Ibn-Foszlan's und andere Araber Berichte über die Russen älterer Zeit. Text und Uebersetzung mit kritischphilologischen Anmerkungen; nebst drei Beilagen über sogenannte Russen-Stämme und Kiew, die Warenger und das Warenger-Meer, und das Land Wisu, ebenfalls nach Arabischen Schriftstellern, von C. M. Frähn, etc., Herausgegeben von der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. St. Petersburg, 1823, 4to.

(3.)

BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 1160.

Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela (a town in Navarre) made himself famous by visiting all the synagogues of his religion in the east, in order to become acquainted with the customs, ceremonies, and rabbis of each. He set out from Spain in 1160, and travelling by land to Constantinople, proceeded through the countries to the north of the Euxine and Caspian Seas, as far as Chinese Tartary. Thence he turned southwards, crossed several provinces of the further India, and embarking on the Indian Ocean, visited several of its islands. After an absence of thirteen years, he returned by way of Egypt to Europe, bringing with him much information concerning a vast tract of the globe, then almost entirely unknown to the people of the west. He left a curious narrative of his travels, the authority of which, however, has been questioned, though many of its errors are attri

buted to the incorrect versions that have been given of it. Be this as it may, we accept with confidence the statement made by one of such extensive learning in philology and bibliography as Mr. A. Asher, the eminent bookseller of Berlin, who has edited the latest and infinitely the best edition of this traveller's Itinerary (vide infra)," that it was in order to remedy a defect of which he complains, namely, an almost total want of research upon the geography of the middle ages, and to furnish materials for such a study, that he selected the Itinerary of the Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, not only," he says in his preface," because it contains more facts and fewer fables than any other cotemporary publication which has come down to us, but also because it describes a very large portion of the earth known in the twelfth century."

In the bibliography of the work given in the first volume of Mr. Asher's edition, and which we here transcribe, is an explanation of the origin of many of the corruptions which have tended to detract in some measure from the reputation of this most interesting narrative.

1. The first edition was printed at Constantinople, Soncini, 1543, 8vo.; sixty-four pages, in the Rabbinic cha

racter.

This edition is so extremely rare, that notwithstanding the most diligent search, Mr. Asher has not been able to meet with any complete copy. It has been in the Bibliothèque Royal, at Paris, but upon the closest inquiry could nowhere be found.

с

The

Oppenheim division of the Bodleian library contains an incomplete copy of this rare book, being deficient of the first fourteen pages, or one quarter of the whole work. Like most other Hebrew books which issued from the early Constantinople presses, this is but a very poor specimen of correctness and typography. All mistakes of this "princeps" have unfortunately crept into the editions noticed below, Nos. 3, 4, and 10, and have led the translators into error. The rarity constitutes its only value.

2. Hebrew. Travels of R. Benjamin of blessed memory; printed at Ferrara in the house of Abraham Ben Usque, in the year 316 [1556]; small 8vo.; sixty-four pages, in the Rabbinic character.

This second edition is perhaps rarer still than the first, and having evidently been printed from another manuscript, is indispensably necessary for a critique of the work. The text is much purer than that of the former, and in many instances its readings give a sense, where the former is too corrupt to be understood.

Unfortunately, this edition was unknown to the early translators, B. Arias Montanus and l'Empereur, who would have made fewer mistakes and formed a more correct judgment of our author, had they been able to compare it with that of Constantinople. It forms the groundwork of Mr. Asher's edition and translation. No public library in France or Germany, most of which that gentleman personally visited or inquired at by correspondence,-possesses a copy; and the only one now known to exist is in

the Oppenheim division of the Bodleian library at Oxford.

3. Hebrew. Travels, etc.; printed in the country of Brisgau, in the year 343 [1583], by the Siphroni; small 8vo., thirty-two pages, in the square character.

This is a reprint of the first (Constantinople) edition; it repeats faithfully all the mistakes of that edition. This is one of the rarest of the rare books printed in Brisgau.

4. Hebrew. Itinerarium D. Benjaminis F. M. Lugduni Batavorum apud Elzivirios, 1633; 24mo., 203 pages, square character.

This edition was probably reprinted from that printed in Brisgau, and formed (as well as that quoted below, No. 13) part of the "Respublica Elzevirianæ", a collection well known to the amateurs of those bijoux of the celebrated Dutch printers. Constantin l'Empereur, the learned editor, changed but very few words in the text, and reserved his emendations for the notes, with which the edition quoted under No. 10 is enriched.

5. Hebrew. The Travels of Rabbi Benjamin the Physician, of blessed memory, who travelled in three parts of the world-in Europe, in Asia, and in Africa. Printed at Amsterdam in the year 458 [1698], in the house of Caspar Sten; 24mo., 65 pages.

There are some pretended ameliorations in this edition, but they are founded upon mere suggestion, and at best upon the translations of Arias Montanus. and l'Empereur.

6. Hebrew. Travels, etc.; s. 1. 1734.