Gospel in Arabic from the Greek Catholic Melkite Church, Lebanon, 1776. Printed book "Kitāb al-Injīl al-sharīf al-ṭāhir wa-al-misbāḥ al-munīr al-ẓāhir muqassaman kanāyīsiyan madār al-sanah ḥasaba tartīb al-Anbā al-Qiddīsiyīn al-Sharqīyīn" on paper in black ink, and red on a few pages. 315 numbered pages. 27 lines per page in Arabic cursive script and petit iron decoration. Decorated with illustrations of the four evangelists. Original dark-brown leather binding with stamped and gilt decoration in the center of a cruciform motif (Condition: stains, foxing, wear). Printed in Lebanon, in 1776, at the Dayr Mār Yūḥannā al-Ṣābigh monastery in al-Shuwayr. Size: folio, 31 x 22.5 cm. Some pages with wormholes, page missing (19-20), page 92 double-numbered. Note: This very interesting Gospel has its original binding as well as the 4 illustrations of the evangelists, which are often missing in other copies. The small-iron decorations throughout the pages are quite remarkable. As its title indicates, the text is original in that it is organized for liturgical reading according to the services of the Greek [Catholic] Church (Melkite). The Melkite monk Abdallah Zakher al-Shammas (1684-1748) installed one of the first typesetters in the Near East in 1733 in the Dayr Mār Yūḥannā al-Ṣābigh monastery in al-Shuwayr. An Arabic inscription in pencil on the reverse of the binding plate indicates that the work appears to have been consulted in 1863-64. Notice written with the assistance of Julien Auber de Lapierre, PhD, Chargé d'expositions at the Collège de France.