Oratio Dominica: The Lord’s Prayer in above 100 Languages, Versions and Characters (page 1/9)

A complete page-by-page scan of Oratio Dominica: The Lord’s Prayer in above 100 Languages, Versions and Characters by Dan Brown, published in 1713.

If the PNG images don’t work for you, there are also JPEG ones.

I am interested in making transcriptions of these pages, preferably in Unicode; if you can help with any of that, contact me.

There was an insert in my copy comparing various forms of the alphabet; I’d love it if anyone could help me identify it.

You might also be interested in Fry’s Pantographia, from which I have scanned a number of pages.

A book-seller’s catalogue gave the following description for another copy of the same edition; my copy doesn’t have the same hand-written note, of course.

“ Oratio Dominica. Polygamattos Polymorphos (Greek Letter). Nimirum, Plus Centum Linguis, Versionibus, Aut Characteribus Reddita & Expressa. Editio Novissima, Speciminibus Variis Quam Priores Comitatior.

Small 4to. (6) + 71 (ie 72)pp. Allegorical engraved title-page vignette. 3 plates in text (for ‘Brachmanica’, ‘Sinica’ & ‘Gjorganica’ versions). The Lord’s Prayer printed in more than one hundred languages, often with accompanying phonetic reading version. A ms. note on front endpaper presumably written by William R. Williams (New York 1868) whose inscription appears at top corner of title-page, states that the ‘present is an enlarged edition of the First Edition’ which ‘had become rare & high priced’. In 1715 an Amsterdam reprint of this edition gave the editor‘s name as ‘John Chamberlayne’ (d. 1724). Another note in the same hand suggests the editor was an Irish Catholic mercenary employed by the Duke of Savoy in the Waldensian massacres (p52-the ‘Waldensis’ version is in fact Irish). On pp64 and 65 are two forms from the projected ‘Universal, Philosophical Language’ of Dr Wilkins. The work is essentially a display of fine printing types; some 90 translations of the word ‘Father’ are given at end. Early calligraphic ownership signature of ‘Thomas Blyth.”

There is also a Web site that has the Lord’s Prayer in 1325 languages and dialects, Chrstus Rex.