Guy Michel Lejay Explained

Gui-Michel Lejay (Paris, 1588 - Vezelay, 1674) was an advocate at the French Parliament, best known for his Polyglot Bible, the Paris Polyglot 1645.^[1] The Lejay Bible was known for the beauty of its fonts for which new metal type was cast in Aramaic, Samaritan, and Arabic.^[2] Obstacles to Lejay's project at Rome were smoothed by his protector and sponsor Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle.^[3]

The Paris Polyglot (1645) contained the first printed texts of the Syriac Old Testament edited by Gabriel Sionita, a Maronite (with the exception of the Book of Ruth by Abraham Ecchellensis, also a Maronite) and of the Samaritan Pentateuch in a version by Jean Morin (Morinus). It contains also a compilation made from several Arabic versions.

Notes and References

1. France, Dictionnaire encyclopedique. Philippe Le-Bas - 1843 "LEJAY (Gui-Michel), avocat au parlement de Paris, né dans cette ville en 1588, mort doyen de Vezelay en 1674, est connu par la Bible polyglotte, dont il a été éditeur,"
2. Biographie universelle, Michaud - 1827 " ... qui avaient paru jusqualors, sans en excepter celle de Lejay, qui sedistingue néanmoins par la beauté des caractères "
3. A new general biographical dictionary Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose, Thomas Wright - 1853 - Volume 4 - Page 182 "He died while saying mass, October 12, 1629. During his life he was the patron of letters, and smoothed obstacles at Rome to the printing of Lejay's Polyglott. His own works, which were chiefly controversial, had great popularity in their day."