Published by: Joe Zammit Ciantar.

Publisher's Note:  This Facsimile edition is limited to 450 copies.

About this edition

This is a facsimile edition of Della lingua punica presentement usata da Maltesi & c. ovvero Nuovi docuenti, li quali possono servire di lume all'antica lingua etrusca; stesi in due dissertazioni & c.- the first published Maltese grammar.  It includes the 'Nuova scuola di grammatica per agevolmente apprendere la lingua Punica-Maltese' (pp. 65-117, with separate title-page) and a Maltese dictionary (118 - 197).  It is the work of Gozitan Canon G.P.F. Agius De Soldanis who had it printed for him while he was in Rome, in 1750, by Generoso Salamoni.  Another edition of this grammar seems to have been printed by Geronimo Roisecco, strangely enough, also in Rome, in 1750, too.

'Although unsuccessful in its efforts to trace the origin of Maltese to Punic rather than to Arabic, the work was instrumental in bringing about a renaissance of Maltese studies.  The author also claimed that the Maltese language,descending from one of the oldest Semitic languages, contained the key to the decipherment of the Etruscan language.'

The printing of this facsimile has been executed diligently on scans made on an original copy printed by Salamoni: a small 8vo. (12), 13-199 pp., hard bound with contemporary half calf.  The only wording printed - Della Ling Punic - appears on the upper half of the spine.