John of Constantinople (Յովհաննէս Կոստանդնուպոլսեցի), Commen - Lot 208

John of Constantinople (Յովհաննէս Կոստանդնուպոլսեցի), Commentaries on the Psalms of David, (Պարզաբանութիւն Սաղմոսացն Դաւթի), 1687 Venice, printed by Naabiet de Gulnazar (Նահապետ Գյուլնազարի), 1687. In-4° (17 x 11.5 cm), 810 by 844 pages (34 pages missing: pp. 91-94, 99-102, 107-110, 115-118, 131-134, 139-142, 147-150, 177 ). 12 (instead of 14) full-page engravings. Complete with engraved portrait of khodja Nahapet of Gulnasar, holding an olive branch, surrounded by the Armenian inscription: Mais moi, tel un olivier fécond dans la maison de Dieu, j'ai espéré en la miséricorde divine, en l'an des Arméniens 1137 and surmounted by his coat of arms (a rose with its thorns). Inscriptions in ink and missing from top of title page. Stains and paper wear. Restored tears. Binding restored with preservation of boards. The wealthy silk merchant Nahabed son of Gulnazar, from the village of Agulis in Nakhchivan, settled in Venice, where he met the vartabed John of Constantinople. The latter, trained in Rome, exercised his apostolate first in Marseille and then in Venice. The merchant financed the printing of three books prepared by the ecclesiastic, in the popular Armenian language.