Nissel, Johann Georg

Nissel, Johann Georg a noted Biblical scholar, flourished near the middle of the 17th century. He was a native of the Palatinate, but settled in Holland, and devoted himself to the prosecution of Oriental learning. He prepared and printed at his own expense and with his own types an edition of the Hebrew Bible, which appeared in 1659, and again in 1662, with the title, Sacra Biblia Hebraica ex optimis editionibus diligenter expressa, et forma, literis, versuumque distinctione commendata (Lugd. Bat. 8vo). The second edition has a preface signed by Heidan, Cocceius, and Hoornbeck, in which the work is commended in very high terms. Few more beautifully printed editions of the Hebrew Scriptures have appeared; and it presents with great accuracy the text of the best editions. Nissel's Biblia has also the peculiarity of having the Megilloth between the Torah and the Nebiim Rishonim, as in the Bomberg Bibles. The text is divided into verses, with Latin headings to the chapters. Nissel edited also some portions of the Scriptures in Ethiopic, but not, it is said, very accurately.