Bernard, Edward°
BERNARD, EDWARD°
BERNARD, EDWARD° (1638–1697), English Orientalist and bibliographer. He had already studied Hebrew at school (in London), and at Oxford, when his mathematical ability secured him the professorship of astronomy at Oxford, first as Wren's deputy, and for one year (1676) he acted as tutor to Charles ii's sons. He was devoted, however, to the study of Oriental languages. Bernard was one of the earliest students of Samaritan; he traced all alphabets to this script as putative parent (1689). His planned edition of Josephus foundered after the early books of the Antiquities (Oxford, 1700); he had written on the Septuagint and Letter of Aristeas (ibid., 1692) and published W. Guise's translation of part of Mishnah Zera'im (ibid., 1690). The wider scholarly world knows Bernard as author of the still important combined catalog of English and Irish manuscript collections (ibid., 1697). His publications and manuscript reliquiae are listed by A. Wood (Athenae Oxonienses, ed. by P. Bliss, 4 (London, 1813–20), 703), and a printed auction-catalog of his library survives in the British Museum.
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odnb online.
[Raphael Loewe]