The first Christian scholar to call attention to the importance of the Talmud. Lightfoot, John. Opera Omnia. Duobus voluminibus comprehensa, quorum syllabus pagina post vitam authoribus ultima exhibetur. 2 Vols. FOLIO. FULL ORIGINAL VELLUM, a VERY FINE copy, COMPLETE and internally clean. Rotterdam, Leers 1686. LIGHTFOOT, JOHN: English Biblical critic and Hebraist; b. at Stoke-upon-Trent (38 m. n. by w. of Birmingham), Staffordshire, Mar. 29, 1602; d. at Ely, Cambridgeshire, Dec. 6, 1675. After completing his education at Christ's College, Cambridge, he taught at Repton, Derbyshire, for two years and then took orders. Appointed curate of Norton-in-Hales, Shropshire, he became chaplain to the Hebraist, Sir Rowland Cotton, who urged him to study Hebrew and other Semitic languages. He accompanied Cotton when he removed to London, and then became rector of Stone, Staffordshire, for about two years, but in 1628 changed his residence to Hornsey, Middlesex, in order to be able to consult the rabbinical collections at Sion College, London. During his residence at Hornsey he wrote his first work, dedicated to Cotton and entitled Erubhin, or Miscellanies, Christian and Judaical, penned for Recreation at vacant Hours (London, 1629). Lightfoot was a prolific writer and is noteworthy as the first Christian scholar to call attention to the importance of the Talmud.