Dutch Engravings of the Armenian Alphabet

A talented Dutch illustrator, engraver, and poet of the late 17th century and early 18th century Jan Luyken lived and worked in Amsterdam.

His engravings created for the cartographic 5-volume atlas “The New Marine Torch” published in 1681 as well as illustrations for the books “The Mirror of the Martyrs or the Bloody Theater” (1685) and “Crafts of Mankind” (1694) are considered monumental.

In 1680, Jan Luyken created a series of amazing engravings depicting the letters of the ancient alphabets and their Latin names. The letters of the Armenian alphabet under the label “Armenisch Alphabet” also found their place on the engravings of the genius Dutchman along with the Chinese and Coptic languages.

A series of ancient world alphabets by Jan Luyken was published in Amsterdam by a publisher and scholar Wilhelmus Goeree.

For the first time, the letters were accompanied by a depiction of their names. A – Ayb (Ա, Այբ), B – Ben (Բ, Բեն), G – Gim (Գ, Գիմ), D – da (Դ, Դա), etc. Note that the series also includes Syrian, Phoenician, Egyptian, and other alphabets.