St John's College U.13-15 (formerly H.37-39) (James 298-300)
John Mall, New Testament Lexicon. Greek and Latin, 1745-54
John Mall, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge (1708 or 9 - 1755): 'Index in Novum Testamentum Graeco-Latinus' (i, fo. iir). The three vols were worked on as follows: (vol. 1) completed 12 Apr. 1754, (vol. 2) 1 Mar. 1745 - 28 Apr. 1748, and (vol. 3) 17 June 1748 - 12 Nov. 1752. They are dated by Mall on the first and last folios. Dates also appear occasionally through the vols, particularly at the end of each letter (e.g. ii, fos 130r, 180r; iii, fo. 26r). In a preliminary 'index' or scheme for his work, dated July 1744 and tipped in at the start of vol. 1, Mall describes himself as a former Fellow of St John's, now 'Teaching School at Bishop Stortford' (fo. iir). He outlines his plan to divide the work into two parts, the first (i, fos 1-36) listing proper names, the second containing 'voces omnes communes in N.T. occurrentes' (i, fo. 37 onwards). A list of authorities is also tipped in at the start (fo. v). Arranged in two standard alphabetical sequences across the three vols. There is an 'Index Rhetoricus' of 11 fos at the end of vol. 3.
356x215 mm. 3 vols: vii+254+i (foliation runs 1-237, 138-154 in error); iv+258+i; iv+372 fos (contemporary foliation ends at 350 in vol. 3). Presented to the College in 1790 by William Salisbury (1705 or 6 - 1796), Fellow of St John's College ('pro Mro Platt', inscription on first flyleaf, and Salisbury's initials inside front cover). Salisbury commends the work and regrets his inability to finance its publication in a lengthy, though incomplete note at the beginning of vol. 1: 'I have had this Lexicon in my hands for a considerable time, and had frequent occasions of consulting it ... I had the pleasure of knowing the author from his admission into College to his decease. He was an excellent Scholar, well skilld in the learned languages, particularly in the Hebrew. And, though He has submitted to hide his merits in this work under the humble title of a Lexicographer, He has in many difficult places of Scripture shown himself a skilfull Expositor.'
Autograph throughout. Paper, written on recto, with notes on facing verso. Modest contemporary half-leather binding, plain paper on boards; paper spine labels on all three vols.