Földvári Books

The First Book To Be Published in Romani, First Bible Translation Into Romani

[Borrow, George (translator)]

[Gypsy Luke.] Embéo e Majaró Lucas. Brotoboro randado andré la chipe griega, acána chibado andré o Romanó, ó chipe es Zincales de Sesé. El Evangelio segun S. Lucas, traducido al Romaní, ó dialecto de los Gitanos de Espana.

Madrid: [British and Foreign Bible Society], 1837. First edition, printed in 500 copies. . In original leather, gilt spine with title vignette. Marbled endpapers, tinted edges. 177 (1) p. Binding rubbed at the extremities. Old bibliographic notes on endpapers in pencil by different hands. Inside clean. Overall in fine condition.

First edition of the so-called “Gypsy Luke” the translation of the Gospel of Luke into Caló, a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani. Embéo e Majaró Lucas is the first book ever published in any Romani language, and the first book of the Bible ever translated into a Gypsy language, printed in only 500 copies.

Translated by George Borrow (1803–1881) the English polyglot writer and traveler, who in 1833 was hired by the British and Foreign Bible Society to produce and distribute the New Testament in vernacular languages in various countries in Europe. Through his childhood Gypsy friend Borrow spoke the Romany language and when he was sent to Spain in 1836, he started to translate the Gospel of Luke into Caló, the local Gypsy language. “The translation was finished by early December 1837, and – once he had gained permission from the Bible Society to publish the book at their costs – the Embéo e Majaró Lucas or Gypsy Luke, as it is commonly called, was printed in 500 copies over Christmas 1837. It was the first book ever to appear in Caló, and caused as much scandal as sensation. Gypsies, philologists, missionaries and curious grandees all sought to secure a copy; churchmen and government officers sought to forbid it as a work of witch-craft printed in robbers’ jargon. Sales consequently soared, as much while the book was still tolerated, as when it was formally forbidden by law in mid 1838. By the early 1840s, it was already a collector’s item […].” (Missler)

Literature: Missler, P.: Story of the Four Books. The Story of George Borrow’s Four ‘Spanish’ Publications.

Price: €10,000.00