Eqrem Cabej study on first Albanian book published

TIRANA, Nov. 12 – A 1968 critical study on the first book written and published in Albanian, a 188-page translation of the Catholic missal, of the mid 16th century, has been published ahead of the Tirana book flair days. The study by Eqrem Cabej, Albania’s most prominent linguist, includes facsimiles of the original publication, transliterations and transcriptions and an introduction by Cabej which is a thorough study of the first Albanian book known to date.
Just before Cabej’s publication, in 1967 the communist party in Albania led by dictator Enver Hoxha banned religion and the book was stored in warehouses as banned literature.
Currently preserved in the Vatican Library, the original copy of The Missal (Meshari) came to Albania in November 2012 for a one-week special display as part of celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of Albania’s independence.
Known as Meshari (The Missal) the book was written by Gjon Buzuku, a northern Albanian Catholic cleric, who probably lived in or around Venice.
“Since the frontispiece and the first sixteen pages of the only copy of the book we possess, preserved in the Vatican Library, are missing, we unfortunately know neither its exact title nor its place of publication. In Albanian, it is known simply as the Meshari (The Missal), and was written in 1555. The scant information we do possess about the author comes from the colophon (postscript) of the missal which Buzuku wrote himself in Albanian, not unaware of the historic dimensions of his undertaking,” says Albanian studies specialist Robert Elsie.
Eqrem Cabej, 1908-1980 is probably the most distinguished Albanian scholar and historical linguist. Educated in Vienna, in 1972 Cabej became a founding member of the Academy of Sciences. “Despite the isolation in which he lived during the long years of Stalinist dictatorship in Albania, he achieved renown as a linguist and scholar at home and abroad. Eqrem Cabej is the author of over 200 publications many on the Albanian language but also of writings of literature and folklore. His earliest scholarly publications of substance date from the mid-1930s. He is remembered in particular for his two-volume critical edition of Meshari i Gjon Buzukut, 1555 (The Missal of Gjon Buzuku), 1555, Tirana 1968, and his seminal etymological research,” says Robert Eslie.