Linguarum duodecim characteribus differentium alphabetum, introductio, ac legendi modus longe facilimus. : Linguarum nomina sequens proxime pagella offeret. / Guilielmi Postelli Barentonij diligentia. ...

Most widely known today for his studies of Near Eastern languages Guillaume Postel was a pioneer in the study of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Aramaic in Western Europe. He was better known in his own time as a prophet, millennialist, and Utopiast. His writings deal largely with his effort to promote world peace, but he was condemned as a heretic for his belief that he was divinely inspired; he claimed, in fact, that he was the reincarnation of the Virgin of Venice. As a scholar he was instrumental in promoting the teaching of Arabic and Syriac, and participated in editing and publishing a number of early Christian works. His theories of language origin (he thought all languages were derived from Hebrew) are no longer considered valid, but his work in comparative linguistics earned him the reputation as the founder of that discipline.