The Demonstrations of Aphrahat

...so that no doubt remains in the mind of the reader, keeping before our eyes the examples already published by Assemani in his Bibliotheca Orientalis.

However, since Assemani did not always and everywhere observe the same rules in applying these vowels, we sometimes had to decide which principles we should follow, so that we might seem consistent. Thus, for example, where the vowel ◌ُ is to be placed upon the letter Vav or the vowel ◌ِ upon the letter Iod, sometimes Assemani even in these cases follows the general rule and places these vowels precisely above the preceding letter; sometimes he does so more simply above the letters Vav and Iod, so that these figures result: وُ and يِ. We have chosen this second method because the phonetic laws themselves seemed to us to demand it, along with examples of Chaldean writing, and because, furthermore, according to this method, less difficulty resulted in the use of type, as there was a smaller number of them.

For as all who have studied the typographic art know, in editing Syriac texts, vowels and consonants were composed separately according to two superimposed lines, so that often the vowel would not be found above the consonant to which it belonged or would even vanish under the press. We, however, so that there would be less danger of this, have recast the consonant with the vowel in the same type, and although we neglected those of which we spoke, we still had to cast more than four hundred different types.

In designing these types, we partly followed the very types already published by Assemani; but to tell the truth, in several cases we corrected them, having followed the examples of neater manuscripts. We owe many thanks to A. Tattegrain, who, when he was in Paris engaged in the task of designing oriental types at the National Printing House, executed our own plans with such diligence; and also to C. Aubert¹ and his son, who worked for an entire year with such skill in recasting these same types.

In order that the types themselves might eventually be applied, they were of great advice and help...

¹ Constantius Aubert, born in Besançon on April 28, 1819, came to Paris in 1837 and died there on December 21, 1892. During these 55 years, he worked for the greatest type foundries of both France and England. Among the oriental types created by him, one must note those that are preserved in Paris, in the National Printing House, namely the Aramaic types, which he described with the care of the Marquis de Vogüé in 1883; the Coptic Theban types, with the care of Eugène Revillout in 1874; the Phoenician types, with the care of Philippe Berger in 1881 and 1883; the Turkish types, which he described with the care of Barbier de Meynard in 1887, etc.