Ludolf Küster () (1670–1716) was a

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

n scholar,

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

textual critic Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dati ...

, and editor of Greek ancient texts. Küster was born in Blomberg,

. He was friends with, and a correspondent of,

Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenis ...

, master of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, who assisted him in the production of a hasty edition of the works of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

Thomas de Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; Thomas Penson Quincey; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821).Eaton, Horace Ainsworth, ''Thomas De Q ...

was later to say that Bentley's contributions—including epistles on ''

The Clouds ''The Clouds'' (, ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not as well received as th ...

'' and ''

Plutus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; ) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion. Family Plutus is most commonly the son of Demeter and Iasion, with who ...

''—were "mangled" by Küster and incompetent printers. Some of these letters still survive. Bentley also assisted Küster, among other editors, with an edition of the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'' (1705). In

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, from 1697 to 1699, Küster published the journal ''Bibliotheca Librorum novorum'' under the pseudonym "Neocorus" ( is aa Greek word that translates as roughly equivalent to the German word "

Küster Küster may refer to: * Ernst Georg Ferdinand Küster (1839–1930), German surgeon * Ernst Küster (1874–1953), German botanist * Heinrich Carl Küster (1807–1876), malacologist and entomologist from Germany * Ludolph Küster (1670–1716), ed ...

", that is, "sexton" or "

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretal ...

"). Several times, Küster came into professional conflict with Dutch classical scholar

Jakob Gronovius Jacobus Gronovius a.k.a. Jacob Gronow (10 October 1645 – 21 October 1716) was a Dutch classical scholar. He was born in Deventer, the son of the German classical scholar Johann Friedrich Gronovius and Aleyda ten Nuyl, and father of the b ...

. In 1710, he made a reprint, or rather revision, of John Mill's ''Novum Testamentum Graecum'' (1707), with prolegomena and with collations of 12 more manuscripts. It was published in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Kuster's reprint also appeared, in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1723 and again in Amsterdam in 1746. He used 12 more manuscripts than Mill's original edition. Nine of these 12 codices were collated for Küster by the abbé de Louvois: codex

285 The year 285 ( CCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the "Year of the Consulship of Carinus and Aurelius" (or, less frequently, "year 1038 ''Ab urbe condita''"). The denomin ...

, M, 9, 11, 119, 13, 14, 15, and

Codex Ephraemi The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 3 (i ...

. Currently they are housed in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

in Paris. Codex 78 was collated by Boerner, codex 42, and

Codex Boernerianus Codex Boernerianus, designated by G, G or 012 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), α 1028 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a small New Testament manuscript made of parchment which contains ...

by Küster himself. In this edition, Küster published his own notes separate from Mill's by prefixing and affixing the marks, and his collations both of his own codices and of early editions will be found more complete than his predecessor's. Mill's dedication was omitted. Küster was the first to recognize the 9th century date of Codex Boernerianus. In 1713, Küster traveled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and spoke against the

Protestant religion Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. There he was admitted to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, and received a pension from the crown of 2000 pounds. He is mentioned by name in

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...

's satirical ''

Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' () is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess, Dulness, and the progress of her chosen agents as they ...

'', in the company of other notable classicists of his day.

Selected works

* *
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3
* (Also includes a life of Pythagoras by Porpyhrius, and another anonymous life preserved in a summary in the ''Bibliotheca'' of

Photius Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Mate ...

.) * * *An edition of Hesychius *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuster, Ludolf 1670 births 1716 deaths People from Blomberg, North Rhine-Westphalia 17th-century philologists German classical philologists German classical scholars 18th-century German scholars 17th-century German linguists