Maimonides Antiquarian Booksellers

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ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL Hebrew ethical wills. Selected and edited and with an introduction. Two volumes in one. Facsimile of original 1926 edition. New foreword by Judah Goldin. Philadelphia, 1954, Or. hcloth in slipcase, 19, XXVI, 348, 348 pp. English and Hebrew. Very fine copy.
Book number: 35180

AL-BALÂDHURÎ. Futûh al-Buldân. (Liber expugnationis regionum, quem e codice Leidensi et codice Musei Brittanici edidit M.J. de Goeje. Editio secunda (photomechanica iterata). Reprint of the 1866 edition. Leiden, 1968, Or.cloth, 128 pp. Latin introduction, 539 pp. Arabic text. 4to.
al-Balâdhurî (Ahmad ibn Yahya) (died 892), one of the earliest Arab historians and the best authority of the period of the formation of the Arab empire. His chief work, {Futûh al-Buldân}, gives an account of the conquest of Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Egypt and North Africa, Spain, the Mediterranean islands, Nubia, Persia and Media.
Book number: 54968

AL-NAKAWA, ISRAEL BEN JOSEPH Menorat ha-Maor. From a unique manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Edited by H.G. Enelow. 4 vols. New York, 1929-1932, Or. black cloth, 90, 37; 460, 48; 627, 59; 635, 155 pp. With frontispiece plates and several facsimile plates from the MS.
Israel ben Joseph Al-Nakawa (d. 1391), ethical writer and poet, studied with Asher b. Jehiel and his son Jacob. During the attack on the Jewish community of Toledo in 1391, which claimed many victims and even more converts, the aged Israel was savagely attacked and dragged through the streets. He finally killed himself, an example followed by his brother Solomon. The harrowing details are described in a dirge by an otherwise unknown poet, Jacob ibn Albene. According to one interpretation of this poem, Israel was the {hazzan} of a Toledo congregation. His son Ephraim escaped to North Africa and became spiritual leader of the Tlemcen Jewish community. Israel is best known through his {Menorat ha-Ma'or}, a compilation of aggadic and halakhic material in 20 chapters. The author attributes the inspiration and name of his work to a vision (as other authors had before and after him) of the seven-branched holy candelabrum (cf. Zech.4) and a scroll (cf. Ezek. 2:9-3:3), in which he was instructed to write a book with this title. Whatever the inspiration, the troubled times through which Spanish Jewry passed in the second half of the 14th century called for a handbook of ethical and ritual instruction such as the {Menorat ha-Ma'or}. After an introductory poem and an introduction in rhymed prose, the author describes the general need for a book such as his, in times of decline of religious knowledge and observance. The division of the book deals with the main themes of religious life: charity, prayer, repentance, humility, study of Torah, honor of parents, education of children, marriage, business morality, good manners etc. Several supplements are appended to the work, which, however, may not be by Al-Nakawa. The sources from which he drew his material include the whole range of rabbinic literature: the Talmud, the Midrashim, including some now lost, such as the {Midrash Hashkem}, the writings of the {geonim}, Maimonides, Nahmanides, down to those of his teachers. Another work whose influence can be seen throughout the the {Menorat ha-Ma'or} is that of {Mitzvot Zemanniyot} by Israel b.Joseph. The Zohar is quoted under the otherwise unknown name of {Midrash Tehi Or} and in a Hebrew adaptation of the Aramaic original. It has been suggested that Israel was responsible for a Hebrew translation of the entire Zohar which was still current in the 16th century. The relationship between the {Menorat ha-Ma'or} and the {Midrash ha-Gadol} still needs investigation. In common with Isaac Aboab's {Menorat ha-Ma'or} (1514), Al-Nakawa's is of primary importance because of the texts, both extant and lost, quoted by the author. The originality of such a work lies in the arrangement of the material, in its emphases as well as in the "continuity" provided by the compiler. While Aboab's {Menorat ha-Ma'or} soon became one of the most studied and most often reprinted religious works, Al-Nakawa's remained relatively unknown. Though copies were current in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries, only one complete manuscript has survived (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Opp.146) which H.G. Enelow published in this monumental edition.
Book number: 14853

ALGEMEYNE ENTSIKLOPEDYE. 1: General section in alphabetical order. Vols. 1-5 (Aleph- Erets Israel.) 5 vols. And: 2: Systematic section: YIDDN. Vols. 1-7 (1939-1966) 7 vols. Paris, New York, 1934-1966, Or.cloth in 12 vols. Large 4to. In Yiddish.
"The most ambitious attempt in Yiddish encylopedias" (Enc. Jud. 6, p. 731). Editor and founder was Raphael Abramowitz (1880-1963), socialist leader and chief spokesman of the second generation of Bund leaders. In 1920 he moved from Russia to Berlin, in 1939 to Paris and in 1940 to New York. The encyclopaedia was published in Europe by the Dubnov Foundation and later (after vol.1 from the section YIDDN) in the USA by the Central Yiddish Culture Organisation (CYCO). The systematic section on sociology, history and literature of the Jewish people is particularly outstanding in articles on the Yiddish language and literature. The whole work is richly illustrated and nicely produced. Shunami 29-30.
Book number: 53654

ALMOSNINO, MOSES BEN BARUCH. Sefer Me'ammets Ko'ach (Reinforcing strength). (Sermons). Facsimile edition of the first ed. Venice 1588. Farnborough, 1969, Or.cloth, 136 lvs. In Hebrew.
Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (c.1515-c.1580), Salonika rabbi, scholar, and preacher. His numerous publications show his extensive knowledge of science, philosophy, history, and rhetoric. His rabbinic scholarship was widely respected. Although his responsa were never published in collected form, authorities such as Samuel de Medina, Hayyim Benveniste, Isaac Adarbi and Jacob di Boton, included some of them in their works. A gifted orator, he served in succession as preacher to the Salonika congregations {Neveh Shalom} and later the {Livyat Hen}, founded by Gracia Nasi. A selection of his sermons, in Hebrew, is printed in his {Me'ammez Koach} (1582).
Book number: 14647

ALPHABETUM Alphabetum Hebraicum addito Samaritano et Rabbinico cum Oratione dominicali, Salutatione angelica, & Symbolo apostolico Rome, Propaganda Press, 1771, Small 8vo, Modern marbled wrappers, 16 pp.
Birrell & Garnett 14, PO 204. The Hebrew types are a fine sefardi 18pt (soprasilvio) fount, the Rabbinical a 10pt garamone, and together with the Samaritan types they already figure in the undated alphabet specimen of c. 1636 (see PO 199). The alphabet was published by J. C. Amadutius, superintendent of the Propaganda Press for nearly 20 years.
Book number: 56398

ALPHABETUM Alphabetum syro-chaldaeum, una cum oratione dominicali salutatione angelica et symbolo fidei. Rome, Propaganda Press, 1797, Modern marbled boards, loose, 30 pp. One folded table (p.19/20): complectens elementa syro-chaldaica.
Book number: 56399

BACHER, WILHELM Die Bibelexegese Moses Maimuni's. Budapest 1896. And: id. Die Bibelexegese der jüdischen Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters vor Maimuni. Budapest 1892. Repr. in 1 vol. with an introduction by J.L. Teicher. Farnborough, 1972, Or.cloth. XIV, VIII, 155; XV, 176 pp.
Book number: 8260

BAR HEBRAEUS Psychologie de Grégoire Aboulfaradj dit Barhebraeus d' après la huitième base de l' ouvrage Le candélabre des sanctuaires. Editée et traduite en Français par J. Bakos. Leiden, 1948, Modern cloth, XL, 129 pp. (Syriac text); 148 pp.
Book number: 54993

BARON, SALO W. A social and religious history of the Jews. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. Vols. 1-18 and one Index vol 1-8 (all published) New York, 1952-1983, Or.cloth in 19 vols. Complete set.
The most authoritative modern study of the Jewish history. Vol.1: Ancient Times; vol.2: Christian era. The first five centuries; vols.3-8: High Middle Ages 500-1200; index to vols. 1-8; vols.9-18: Late Middle Ages and Era of European expansion 1200-1650. The final vol.18 treating the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Ethiopia, India and China.
Book number: 41143

BASÎR, JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM HA-KOHEN 'Al-Kitâb al-Muhtawî de Yûsuf al-Basîr. Texte, traduction et commentaire par Georges Vajda. Édité par David R. Blumenthal. (Études sur le Judaisme Médiéval 12) Leiden, Brill, 1985, Or.cloth, XI,786 pp. including 146 pp. Hebrew text, and portrait.
Joseph al-Basir, Karaite author and philosopher, Iraq and Persia, 11th century.
Book number: 54969

BIBAGO, ABRAHAM BEN SHEM TOV (15th cent.) Derekh Emunah. Facsimile of the first edition Constantinople 1521. Farnborough, 1969, Folio. Or.cloth. In Hebrew.
Abraham ben Shem Tov Bibago, Spanish scholar, religious philosopher, commentator on Aristotelian works, and preacher, was born in the province of Aragon. He first resided in Huesca, where, in his youth, he completed a commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (1446). He later settled in Saragossa, where he was head of the yeshivah, and preached publicly on Sabbaths and festivals. He engaged in numerous disputations with Christian scholars at the court of Juan II, king of Aragon, on the Trinity and on other Christian tenets, and for this reason kept abreast of Christian theology and scholastic philosophy. He probably died shortly before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Bibago may be regarded as "a rationale believer" (Steinschneider). On the one hand, he sharply denounced the bigoted zealots "who retain the shell but reject the kernel, posing as pious before the multitude, while vilifying and mocking the master (i.e. Maimonides) and his disciples" ({Derekh Emunah} 45:4). On the other hand, however, he sharply criticized the destructive tendency of some of the rationalists in their pursuit of philosophy and free enquiry. Bibago's chief work is {Derekh Emunah} (Path of Faith), on the principal tenets of Judaism. It is divided into three treatises. The first discusses the acts of God, His knowledge, and His providence; the second the intellect and its objects, faith and reason, sin and related topics; and the third, the principles of the Jewish religion, miracles, creation, and special articles of faith. Bibago's views influenced Isaac Arama, who refers to them, without, however, mentioning the author's name. It appears that Arama gained this knowledge through personal contact rather than through reading the {Derekh Emunah}. Arama describes Bibago as "one of the most important scholars and philosophers of our people" ({Akedat Yizhak, gate 80}). Isaac Abrabanel quotes the {Derekh Emunah} in his {Rosh Amanah}, without, however, mentioning the author's name. Jacob ibn Habib speaks highly of Bibago's scholarship, although he objects to his allegorical interpretation of talmudic passages ({Ein Ya'akov}, end of tractate {Berakhot}). He also wrote a treatise in which he refuted the arguments of Nahmanides against the exegetical method used by Maimonides in his Guide of the Perplexed ({Derekh Emunah}, 38:1). See: Steinschneider, Übersetzungen, 89ff and passim.
Book number: 14589

[BIBLE]
(Hebrew-German] Netivot ha-Shalom (Pentateuch with German translation in Hebrew type, and Bi'ur). 5 vols. Berlin, George Friedrich Starcke, 1780-1783, 8vo, Cont.hleather, (24),8,(2),299; (1),204; (2),218; 144; 125, (1) lvs.
First edition of the Pentateuch with German translation and Biur by Mendelssohn and his circle. Complete with the Haskamot, foreword and poem by N.H. Wessely and the unfinished Hakdamah by S. Dubno. General title only in vol.1; vols. 2 and 3 with half title, vols. 4-5 without half title as usual. StCB 934 & Add. col. LXXV; Zedner 111; Roest 182; Meyer nr. 250; Vinograd, Berlin 314.
Book number: 56448

[BIBLE]
(Hebrew-Yiddish). Tenakh. Hebrew text of the complete Jewish Bible with the Yiddish translation by Yehoash. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York, 1942-1946, Or.cloth, nice bindings, paper browned and brittle. Large 4to.
Yehoash (pseudonym of Yehoash Solomon Bloomgarden, 1872-1927), Yiddish poet, born in Vierzbolavo, Lithunia. As a boy he became under influences of both yeshivah and Haskalah. In 1890 he emigrated to the U.S. In his early 30s, he undertook to translate the Bible into a modern Yiddish which would combine scholarly precision with simple idiomatic language, a task to which he devoted the rest of his life.
Book number: 53111

[BIBLE MANUSCRIPT]
The pre-Masoretic Bible, discovered in four manuscripts representing a unique tradition: the Codex Reuchlianus, the Parma Pentateuch, the Parma Bible and the London Bible, and published with a general introduction, detailed description of the manuscripts, and basic conclusions by Alexander Sperber. (Corpus Codicum Hebraicorum Medii Aevi II). In 3 vols. Copenhagen, Munksgaard, 1956-1959, Oversized Folio, Modern cloth in 3 vols. 58 pp. and 1191 facsimile plates. New & Unused.
Composition of the set: 1 Codex Reuchlianus (1956): 50 pp. 774 plates; II/1 The Parma Pentateuch, the Parma Bible, part 1 (1959): IV, 99 + 124 plates; II/2 The Parma Bible, part 2 (1959): IV pp. 125-318 plates. On the basis of this facsimile edition Sperber compiled his Grammar of Masoretic Hebrew (1959), and where the facsimile was reviewed as a "technische Meisterleistung" the grammar was considered to be an extremely valuable contribution to the Hebrew pronunciation systems (R.Meyer in Vetus Testamentum 11 (1961) 475-86). The London Bible MS was not reproduced.
Book number: 56009

[BIBLIA HEBRAICA 1635 / GRAECA 1584]
Chameshah Chumshei Torah ve-Nevi'im Rishonim ve-Acharonim ve-Ketuvim. Biblia Hebraica, eleganti charactere impressa. Editio nova. Ex accuratissma recensione doctissimi ac celeberrimi Hebraei Menasseh Ben Israel. Bound with:
BIBLIA GRAECA 1584. Bibliorum pars Graeca, quae Hebraice non invenitur.
Amsterdam, sumptibus Henr. Laurentii, 1635. Small 4to. Printed title-page, engraved title-page, lvs 2-128, 2 lvs, 129-369 lvs, blank leaf, 124 lvs, including 3 title-pages with woodcut borders. - Antwerp, ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1584. 4to. 32 lvs, 33-247 p. [Contemporary calf, spine darkened and only slightly damaged, hinges weak, but internally a fine copy; the Greek part a large-margined copy, but the quires mounted on stubs to compensate for the difference in size]
A fine copy of an extraordinary Old Testament Bible: the original Hebrew text in the famous second Menasseh Ben Israel edition, followed by the Greek Apocrypha, "that part of the Bible which is not to be found in Hebrew" as its Greek title says, in the Plantin edition. The Hebrew text is the famous fully pointed second edition of the Hebrew Bible, issued with three separate title-pages dated 1631 (altered by hand in our copy to 1636) and a general title-page dated 1635. It is the second and most important of Menasseh Ben Israel's two Bible editions, after the unpointed octavo edition of 1631. Other editions were only printed by him for other publishers, or wrongly ascribed to him. Darlow & Moule 5124, Fuks 153 variant c. Le Long-Masch I 39-41.
The Greek text is a well-printed edition of the Old Testament Apocrypha closely following the Plantin 1566 edition, which was the oldest known separate edition of this part of the Bible. See Voet 675 (with incorrect Greek transcription; his size indication 315 x 155 must also be an error: our copy measures before mounting 205 x 152). Darlow & Moule 4645a, Le Long-Masch II 428.
Book number: 56420

[BIBLIA HEBRAICA]
Mikdash ha-Shem. Esrim ve-Arba Sifrei ha-Mikhtav ha-Kadosh. En tibi lector, Hebraica Biblia, latina planeque nova Sebast. Munsteri tralatione ... Accesserunt in hac secunda editione multae novae annotationes, praesertim in Pentateucho ... Index quoque praecipuarum sententiarum & expositionum ... jam demum additus est. . In 2 volumes. 20 lvs, 1601 pp. including a second title-page on p. 745, blank leaf. [Old boards binding rebacked; dampstained, some scribbling on title-pages and various later ownership entries and references in handwriting, small repairs; the name of Munster often crossed out throughout the work; still an interesting copy] Basel, ex officinis Mich. Isengrinii & Henrici Petri, 1546, Folio.
The well-known Hebraic scholar Sebastian Münster was the first to publish a Hebrew-Latin Bible edition with a new Latin translation: first in 1534, to be followed by a second one in 1546. These editions exerted a considerable influence on the versions made by the Reformers, and on the English version known as "the Great Bible"; it gave an impetus to Old Testament study similar to that which Erasmus had given to the study of the New Testament as Münster already foresaw: Nemo non novit, quantus tumultus superioribus annis excitatus fuerit contra Erasmum, quod corrigere ausus fuerit, sic enim illi loquuntur, sanctum evangelium ... Idem mihi eventurum scio qui ... veteris testamenti novam tentarim versionem (?5 recto). And although his version lost ground before those of other scholars like Tremellius, his annotations long continued to hold the respect of commentators and were reprinted in the Critici Sacri. See Le Long-Masch I 151-152 for the confusion about other Münster editions of the Latin translation in the older bibliographies. Darlow & Moule 5090. Not in Lumini. Burmeister 120. Prijs I.Periode, # 73.
Münster's translation was characterised as follows by Sixtus Senensis: Munsterus ubique horridus, senticosus & asper, usque adeo Hebraici sermonis horrorem sequutus est, ut cum multa Latinis auribus molliter accommodare potuisset, omnes tamen Hebraici sermonis proprietates ac phrases adeo servare studuit, ut nec ipsos Hebraicorum nominum stridores praetermittere voluerit, ingerens Latinis auribus ubique pro Oziâ Uzzijahu, pro Ezechiâ Jehizkiahu, pro Ezechiele Jechezchel, etc. (quoted by Simon in his Disquisitiones criticae (1684) p. 187).
Book number: 56419

[BIBLIA HEBRAICA]
(Hebrew). `Esrim we-`Arba` Sifrei ha-Kodesh. Sive Biblia Hebraica ex aliquot manuscriptis et compluribus impressis codicibus, item Masora tam edita, quam manuscripta..cura ac studio D. Io. Heinr. Michaelis. Halle, typis et sumptibus Orphanotrophei, 1720, 4to, Full vellum binding in 2 vols. With engr. frontispiece. Broad margins. First edition.
The first attempt at a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. Darlow & Moule 5144.
Book number: 56326

[BIBLIA HEBRAICA]
(Hebrew). Torah, Nevi'im u-Ketuvim. Biblia Hebraica accuratissima, notis hebraicis et lemmatibus latinis illustrata a Joh. Leusden. Amsterdam, Joseph Athias, 1667, Old calf and boards in 2 vols. Engr. title, (18), 178, 508, (2) lvs. including 3 half-titles with fine woodcut borders, dated 5426. Upperspine part 1 slightly dam. Otherwise fine.
The second revised Athias' edition, edited by Leusden and approved by Christian and Jewish scholars, became the standard text for many subsequent editions of the 18th and 19th century. Darlow & Moule 5134. Fuks-Mansfeld 393. The present copy contains the second (corrected) issues of the early sheets. Some copies have after the Judicum of Jacobi Altingi the Judaicum Christiani Schotani (leaf C8 verso). In the present copy the latter has been left out.
Book number: 56373

BRASICHELLENSIS, J.M. Indicis librorum expurgandorum in studiosorum gratiam confecti tomus primus. In quo quinquaginta auctorum libri prae ceteris desiderati emendantur. Bergamo, typis Comini Venturae, 1608, Small 8vo, 18th-century half vellum, 8 lvs, 608 pp. Slightly foxed but a good copy.
First edition, all published, and of the greatest rarity. It was first published a year earlier in Rome, see PO 259. The work was compiled by Johannes Maria de Guanzellis from Brazighella, "Sacri Palatii Apost. Magister". See Reusch I 549-52.
At the beginning a list of the authors under censure is printed and the work forms a complement to the Index librorum prohibitorum by listing those works which could be read after the deletion or revision of certain passages. Among these we find Masius' Commentarii in Josuae historiam (1574), Arias Montano, Vatable's Bible edition, Mercator, Münster's Hebrew dictionary (Basel 1564), Pagninus' Thesaurus (Lyon 1577), etc. Of interest is also the censura on pp. 506-519 of J. Forster's Hebrew dictionary (Basel 1557): not only are all the Hebrew lemmata indicated where the expression Auctor Epistolae ad Hebraeos has to be replaced by D. Paulus in Epist. ad Hebraeos, also various exegetical remarks or references have to be deleted or replaced.
Book number: 56407

CANTARINI, YITSCHAK CHAIM KOHEN ME-HA-CHAZANIM Pachad Yitschak. Amsterdam, Bi-Defus David Tartas, 1685, Small 8vo, Cont. hleather, rubbed spine, marbled boards. Frontispiece engraving of the binding of Isaac on Mount Moria, 53 leaves. Some tiny repairs. A good copy. Only edition. In Hebrew.
Isaac Vita Cantarini, Italian poet, writer, physician and rabbi; born Feb.2, 1644 at Padua; died there June 8, 1723. He studied Hebrew and the Talmud with Solomon Marini, and with the poet Moses Catalano. His instructor in the secular branches was Bernardo de Laurentius. Cantarini received his diploma as physician at Padua Feb.11, 1664; and in addition to following the profession of medicine, he very often preached in the Ashkenazic synagogue. His sermons were frequently attended by Christians, the number of these on one occasion being so great that the Jews had to find seats in the women's gallery. He also taught in the yeshivah, and officiated as cantor, especially on the Day of Atonement. As he had a thorough knowledge of the Talmud, his decisions were often sought in halakhic cases. Cantarini had an extensive practice, especially among the patricians outside of Padua, but at the end of his life, having lost his property through others, he was in straitened circumstances. Many elegies were written at the time of his death, among others by his pupil R. Moses Chaim Luzzatto, Venice 1728. {Pachad Yitschak} is a description of the attack on the ghetto at Padua by the Christian populace on August 20, 1684, where Jews were accused of having sided with the Turkish enemy and murdered Christian prisoners-of-war in Budapest. Luckily the garrison commander of Padua was able to repel the attackers. The work contains a detailed account of all the incidents, in most of which he had taken part; and many documents of the governments of Padua and Venice are there in translated and quoted in Hebrew. An account of the internal condition of the community, together with statistics, serves as an introduction (p.10). The author develops entirely modern theories on the causes of these occurences in the political as well as the physical world. The engraving representing the binding of Isaac is an allusion to the name of the author, who fittingly called the story of his experiences in Padua, "Pachad Yitschak" (the fear of Isaac). See: M.H.Gans, Memorbook p.143, where title and engraving are illustrated. Vinograd Amsterdam 521.
Book number: 56415

CASTRO, DAVID HENRIQUES DE Keur van grafstenen op de Nederl. Portug.-Israël. begraafplaats te Ouderkerk aan den Amstel. Met beschrijving en biographische aanteekeningen. Tot inleiding: Een en ander over deze en de vroegere begraafplaats der Nederlandsch-Portugeesch-Israelietische Gemeente te Amsterdam. Met platen. (Auswahl von Grabsteinen). Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1883, Folio, Cont.hcloth, marbled boards. XII, 125, (1) pp. and 15, (2) plates. Text in Dutch and German. First edition.
David Henriques de Castro (1826-1898) was the first who focused attention on the graveyard monuments of the Beth Haim cemetery of the Amsterdam Portuguese Jewish Community at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Founded in 1614 it is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands still in use. Besides the historic importance of the gravestones, De Castro also noted their artistic significance. Romeyn de Hooghe and Bernard Picart's Golden Age prints of the burial ground were well-known in the nineteenth century and De Castro discovered a number of tombs from Ouderkerk on a painting by Jacob van Ruisdael. Among the 2000 gravestones that De Castro uncovered at the cemetery were those of Menasse ben Israel, Jos. Prado, Saul Levi Morteira, Elia Montalto, Jakob Sasportas, Jakob Morenu, Abraham Gomes de Sossa, Samuel Palache, Isaac Orobio de Castro and many more legendary names from the Dutch Portuguese Jewish Community. The book ({Selected Gravestones}) which he published in 1883 in Dutch and German, has hundreds of descriptions, many photographic plates and biographical notes.
Book number: 56432

CLENARDUS, N. Luchot ha-Dikduk. Tabulae in grammaticam Hebraeam ... a Johan. Isaac nunc recens correctae, & aptiori ordine digestae, una cum eiusdem & Joan. Quinquarb. adnotationibus. Editio tertia. Cologne, haeredes A. Birckmanni (typis J. Soteris), 1561, Small 8vo, Old vellum missal leaf, 84, (4) leaves. Hebrew & Latin. Slightly foxed but an attractive copy.
Reproduces the Cologne 1555 and 1557 editions, edited by Joh. Isaac Levita. It is one of the 23 16th-century editions known, and was much praised for its succinct and clear rules. The grammar takes up lvs 7-83, after a preface by Clenardus (1529, the only edition from his own hand) and by Isaac (1555). At the end a Hebrew Ad lectorem by Isaac is followed by the text plus translation of Psalms 6, 32, and 130. Bakelants-Hoven 17, Steinschneider BH 412 (with great confusion) and 977. Adams C2166, who lists only seven of the 23 editions, each in one copy
Book number: 56397

DE ROSSI, GIOVANNI BERNARDO Della lingua propria di Cristo e degli Ebrei nazionali della Palestina da' tempi de' Maccabei. Dissertazioni.... in disamina del sentimento di un recente scrittore italiano. Parma, Stamperia Reale, 1772, Small 4to, Fine copy in contemp. vellum, 4 lvs, 244, XVI pp.
The well-known Hebrew scholar De Rossi examines in this work the question of the language spoken in Palestine in the time of Christ, and argues against the hypothesis developed by a "recente scrittore italiano" (i.e. D. Diodati) that Christ's language was Greek: 1 Disamina della introduzione dell' ellenismo nella Palestina. 2 Disamina dell' uso dell' ellenismo negli Ebrei Palestini. 3 Disamina dell' uso dell'ellenismo in Cristo particolarmente e negli Apostoli. Steinschneider BH 1718.
The work is printed by the famous Bodoni (1740-1813), since 1768 director of the Parma printing house, and displays already his cancellaresca in the preface. In the text his Greek and Hebrew types are also displayed, but the Arabic, Syriac and Coptic quotations are printed in cleverly designed wooden types. In 1774 Bodoni was to publish a first specimen of exotic types with his Iscrizioni esotici. Brooks 26; not in de Lama; not in Weiss.
Book number: 56405

DILHERRUS, J.M. Atrium linguae sanctae Ebraicae, genuinam lectionem, sex horis ostendens: cui addita, uberioris profectus causa, quaedam alia; Followed by: Peristylium linguae sanctae Ebraicae: quo exhibetur grammaticae pars altera. Two volumes in one. Nürnberg, haeredes Endterorum, 1659-60, Small 8vo, Contemp.vellum, a fine crisp copy, 219 p. including engraved frontispiece, (21) p., two engraved plates, folding letterpress table; 191, (8) p., 32 unnumbered lvs (last two blank).
An attractively written elementary Hebrew grammar which offers the student the basics in six hours. Various short additamenta take him further with information on the alphabet, the Samaritan script, the Cabbala, Talmud, Masora, followed by reading exercises and a compendious lexicon which within each letter treats some five or six words in depth. A folding table details the subjects to be studied for each of the six hours.
The second part offers instruction for five more hours on the intricacies of conjugation, followed by an appendicula de syntaxi and finally a dictionary of anomala with scriptural references. It contains also an exposition of the radix poem (II 185-191) with the text similar to PO 124b except for the last two lines which read: Tandem quicquid ab hoc exorbitat ordine; disces / usu: qui tibi in hac parte magister erit.
The Atrium is the only Hebrew philological work of the prolific Nürnberg Professor of Theology Dilherr (1604-69), dedicated to the court physician and imperial historiographer J. W. Managetta. Both Fürst I 209 and Steinschneider BH 292-94 list three parts separately, but we actually only have one work in two parts (the second one with a drop title), the syllabus being the unpaginated appendix to part 2. The work is not listed in Paisey (BL).
The plates illustrate the Samaritan alphabet, and Hebrew coins, not mentioned in Crown.
Our copy has an intriguing ownership entry: Ferd. Alb. [Alberti?] Bremae in auctione 674 [1674].
Book number: 56404

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA. Vols. 1-16. And Supplement. Together 17 vols. Complete. Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House, 1972ff, Folio. Or. cloth in 17 vols. Nice set. Richly illustrated.
The most extensive and most attractive major Judaic encyclopedia in English. Editorial board: Cecil Roth (editor-in-chief), Geoffrey Wigoder, Binyamin Eliav, Simha Katz, Raphael Posner, and Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, assisted by more than 2000 department editors and contributors. Number of entries: 25.000; number of illustrations: more than 8000.
Book number: 54948

FIELD, F. (ed.) Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt sive Veterum interpretum graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta. Post Flaminium Nobilium, Drusium et Montefaulconium adhibita etiam versione syro-hexaplari, concinnavit, emendavit, et multis partibus auxit Fridericus Field. 2 vols. Oxford 1875. Reprinted in 1964. Hildesheim, 1964, 4to, Or.cloth. 2 vols. CI, 806; 1036, 76, (1) pp.
Reprint from: Darlow and Moule nr. 4865
Book number: 31213

FIGUERAS, PAU Decorated Jewish ossuaries. Leiden, 1983, Or.cloth, XVIII, 122 pp. and 36 plates. 4to.
Book number: 54967

[GABIROL, SOLOMON IBN]
KAUFMANN, DAVID 1.Die Spuren Al-Batlajusi's in der jüdischen Religions-Philosophie (1880). 2. Studien über Salomon Ibn Gabirol (Jahresbericht der Landes-Rabbinerschule 1899). 3. Die Sinne. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Physiologie und Psychologie im Mittelalter (Jahresbericht der Landes-Rabbinerschule 1884). Reprinted with an introduction by Louis Jacobs. Farnborough, 1972, Or.cloth, III, 64, 55, 123, V, 199 pp.
Book number: 8634

[GABIROL, SOLOMON IBN]
MYER, ISAAC Qabbalah. The philosophical writings of Solomon Ben Yehudah Ibn Gebirol or Avicebron and their connection with the Hebrew Qabbalah and Sepher ha-Zohar, with remarks upon the antiquity and content of the latter, and translations of selected passages of the same. Also An Ancient Lodge of Initiates, translated from the Zohar... Philadelphia, 1888, 4to, Or.cloth., slightly worn, Frontispiece plate, XXIV, 499 pp. Illustrated. A fine copy.
First (bibliophile) and limited edition of 350 copies. This copy with author's dedication: Presented to Mr. Charles C. Allen. With the regards of Isaac Myer.
Book number: 43011

GAFFAREL, J. Curiositez inouyes, sur la sculpture talismanique des Persans. Horoscope des Patriarches. Et lecture des estoilles. Par M. I. Gaffarel. No place or printer (Rouen?), 1631, Contmporary vellum, 8 lvs, 315 p., two blank leaves, 2 woodcut folding plates paginated 316, 317. [Corner dampstained, but a fine copy].
Rare third edition, first published in 1629. Gaffarel (1601 - 1681), a Kabbala scholar and librarian to Cardinal Richelieu, in this work freely propounds his views on Hebrew astrology and on the true nature of talismanic figures, but was forced by the Theological Faculty of Paris to publish a Retractatio in the same year - see Thorndike VII 304-306. Regarding his sources: the woodcut figure on p. 228 and the Hebrew tables for prognostication (pp. 225, 229) were copied from Kapol ben Samuel's Amuq amuqim (Cracow 1498). The Arabic alphabet is discussed on pp. 292ff. EJ VII 253.
Regarding the "Persans" of the title, Gaffarel states that the Hebrew characters depicted on his folding plates are unlike those engraved by Hepburn, or those published by Duret: he derived them from the designs of Rabbi "Chomer", and in other places he also refers to an "Astrologie Persanne, traduicte en Hebreu par Rabbi Chomer, Autheur moderne" (p. 48). It is therefore doubtful if he knew Persian, as Colomesius reported.
A survey of the 13 chapter headings offer the best insight into this fascinating little book:
I Qu'on a faussement imposé plusieurs choses aux Hebreux, & au reste des Orientaux, qui ne furent iamais. II Qu'on a estimé plusieurs choses ridicules & dangereuses, dans les livres des Hebreux, qui sont soustenuës sans blasme par des docteurs chrestiens. III Qu'à tort on a blasmé les Persans & les curiositez de leur magie, sculpture, & astrologie. IV Qu'à faut d'entendre Aristote on a condamné la puissance de figures, & conclu beaucoup de choses, & contre ce philosophe; & contre toute bonne philosophie. V Preuve de la puissance des images artificielles par les naturelles, empreintes aux pierres & aux plantes, appellees vulgairement GAMAHÉ ou CAMAIEU, & SIGNATURES. VI Qu'on peut dresser, selon les Orientaux, des figures & images sous certaines constellations, qui pourront naturellement & sans l'aide des demons chasser les bestes dommageables, destourner les vents, foudres, & tempestes, & guarir plusieurs maladies. VII Que les obiections qu'on fait contre les figures talismaniques n'ostent rien de leur puissance. VIII Qu'il est faux que l'astrologie des anciens ait donné commencement à l'idolatrie. IX A sçavoir si les anciens Hebreux se sont servis en leur astrologie de quelque instrument de mathematique, & de quelle figure ils estoient. X Que l'astrologie des anciens Hebreux, Egyptiens, & Arabes n'a iamais esté telle que la descrivent Scaliger, Augustinus Riccius, Kunrat, Duret, & Viginere. XI Quelle est en fin la veritable & curieuse observation que les patriarches & anciens Hebreux faisoient dressant une nativité. XII A sçavoir si on peut lire quelque chose dans les nuës, & dans tout le reste des metheores. XIII Que les estoilles, selon les Hebreux, sont rengees au ciel en forme de lettres, & qu'on y peut lire tout ce qu'il arrive de plus important dans l'univers.
The Sorbonne forced the author to publish a retractatio in 1629, in which he in vague and general terms stated not to believe what he had said in his book. This statement is included in our edition as an "Additions, & advertissement" of 12 pages; on fol. â4 verso he says: "... sçaches que ie n'adiouste pas plus de foy à toutes ces curiositez, qu'autant que l'Eglise Catholique Apostolique & Romaine permet ...".
Allatius, who was visited in Rome by Gaffarel in 1632, recorded in his Apes Urbanae (1633) that the Curiositez ran through 3 editions within six months in 1630, twice in Paris, and once in an unnamed French town, suspected to be Rouen. This story probably tallies with the real dates of the first three editions: Paris 1629, Paris 1631, and 1631 without impressum (our copy). This our edition is not mentioned in Caillet 4293; nor in Brunet II 1433 (has 1629, 1637, 1650 editions), nor in Goldsmith (has editions 1632, 1637, 1650), nor in Scholem (399 has: Paris, Hervé du Mesnil, 1631, after Caillet).
Book number: 56421

GASTER, MOSES The exempla of the Rabbis, being a collection of exempla, apologues and tales (Hebrew with Engl. translation) 1924. Repr. with a prolegomenon by W.G. Braude. New York, 1968, Or. cloth. XLIII,314,208 pp.
Book number: 31417

GESENIUS, WILHELM Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae hebraeae et chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti. 2nd rev. ed. 3 vols. Leipzig, Sumptibus Fr.Chr.Guil. Vogelii, 1839-1858, Old boards, VIII, 1522, IV, 116 pp. Large 4to.
Final section by Aemil. Roediger. StBH 699. "His greatest work in this direction ... both concordance and dictionary" (Jew. Enc. vol. V, p. 643a.)
Book number: 31106

GOODENOUGH, ERWIN R. Jewish symbols in the Greco-Roman world. Vols. 1-13 (all published). (Bollingen Series 37). New York, 1953-1968, Or. cloth, Folio. Illustrated.
Book number: 55303

HADASSI, JUDAH BEN ELIJAH Sefer Eshkol ha-Kofer (Cluster of henna blossoms). Eupatoria (Koslo) 1836. Reprinted with essays by W. Bacher (1896) and A. Schreiber (1941) and new introduction by L. Nemoy. Farnborough, 1971, Or.cloth. 2,155 lvs. 13, 33 pp. Folio. In Hebrew.
Judah ben Elijah Hadassi (12th century), Karaite scholar of Constatinople. His greatest work is the {Eshkol ha-Kofer} (or {Sefer ha-Peles}), which according to his own testimony he began in 1148. The work is arranged according to the Ten Commandments and alphabetically. Written partly in verse, it explains the {mitzvot} and the {halakhot} and the reasons for their observance in accordance with the specific commandment on which they depend. It represents an encyclopedic corpus of Karaite belief and knowledge as it existed in the author's time. According to Hadassi, Karaite doctrine derives and may be learned from the Torah and the Prophets by way of a complete system of homiletical exposition, which he specifies in detail. The discussion on the {mitzvot} is preceded by a comprehensive treatment of the rules of vocalization and grammar in the Bible. Hadassi believed in man's free will in matters of faith and methods of Torah study. The rationalist trend in Karaism is recognizable in his attacks on the legends in the Talmud and the customs and interpretations of the Rabbanites. There is also a certain measure of social criticism in his argument that the Rabbanistes circumvent the prohibition against lending money on interest. Hadassi sharply attacked Christianity and Islam, but, like his Karaite predecessors, he attributed the corruption of Christianity to the Apostles, especially St.Paul; he stated that "Jesus was an exemplary, wise and righteous man form the first...the scholars encompassed him...and killed him as they killed other pious men who criticized them." The description given of the world and nature by Hadassi evidently reflected the current beliefs of the Jews living in the Byzantine Empire. He had an unqualified belief in astronomy and accepted demons and sorcerers. He knew of strange creatures in distant lands -a mixture of images from rabbinic legends, ancient mythology, and Eastern tales- and also of "the tribes of Jesurun hidden beyond the Sambatyon River." Hadassi was thus a compiler rather than an original thinker, and in spite of his anti-Rabbanite bias he drew much of his material from Rabbanite sources. His Hebrew style, however, unlike that of his Rabbanite contemporaries, is awkward and not easily understandable and the rhymed arrangement often makes it obscure. {Eshkol ha-Kofer} was published by the Karaite press in Eupatoria, Crimea (1836). A few hymns by Hadassi are included in the official Karaite prayer book. See: L.Nemoy, Karaite anthology (1952), pp. 235-377.
Book number: 14669

[HAGGADAH]
Haggadah 5705. Samengesteld door A.de Jong in samenwerking met Mevr. L.van Amerongen-Asscher. Uitgegeven in opdracht van de "Joodsche Coördinatie Commissie voor het bevrijde Nederlandsche gebied" Eindhoven, March 1945, 16mo, Or.wrps. 24 pp.
First Dutch Haggadah, printed in this (abridged) edition at the end of World War II in Eindhoven. Only used for {Pesach} 5705 in the Southern cities of the country as the Northern part of Holland was still occupied by the Germans. Yaari 2312; Yudlov 3944; not in {Al Tehomot}.
Book number: 56439

HAMMER-PURGSTALL, JOSEPH VON Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches. Budapest 1827-1835. Reprinted. Einleitung und Bibliographie Prof.Dr. Herbert W. Duda. Contents: Band 1. Von der Gründung des Osmanischen Reiches bis zur Eroberung Constantinopels 1300-1453. Band 2.Von der Eroberung Constantinopels bis zum Tode Selim's I, 1453-1520. Band 3. Vom Regierungsantritte Suleiman des Ersten bis zum Tode Selim's ll, 1520-1574. Band 4. Vom Regierungsantritte Murad des Dritten bis zur zweyten Entthronung Mustafa's l, 1574-1623. Band 5. Vom Regierungsantritte Murad des Vierten bis zur Ernennung Mohammed Köprili's zum Grosswesir, 1623-1656. Band 6. Von der Grosswesirschaft Mohammed Köprili's bis zum Carlowiczer Frieden, 1656-1699. Band 7. Vom Carlowiczer bis zum Belgrader Frieden, 1699-1739. Band 8. Vom Belgrader Frieden bis zum Frieden von Kainardsche, 1739-1774. Band 9. Schlussrede und Übersichten 1-X. Band 10. Verzeichnisse, Hauptregister und Anhang. Graz, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1963, small 8vo, Or.cloth in 10 vols. Fine complete set, as new.
Book number: 56469

IN MEMORIAM (Le-Zekher). In memoriam. (Le-Zekher). Introduction by Hans Bloemendal. 2nd rev.ed. Den Haag, 1995, Or.cloth with dustjacket, XV, 858 pp.
Yizkor book, listing the 100.000 Dutch Jewish victims of the Holocaust, based on the original lists of the Oorlogsgravenstichting.
Book number: 54052

JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS Alle de werken. Met aanmerkingen uitgegeeven, door J. F. Martinet. 9 volumes. 10 lvs, 390 p., blank leaf; 3 lvs, 456 p.; 3 lvs, 347 p.; 4 lvs, 475 p.; 3 lvs, 388 p.; 4 lvs, 511 p.; 8 lvs (the first blank), 510 p., blank leaf; 6 lvs (the first blank), 479 p.; 7 lvs, 576 p., together 48 engr. plates. Amsterdam, Allart en Holtrop, 1783-87, Attractive copies in hleather.
Reissue of the Sewel translation (first published Amsterdam 1704), with corrections by Martinet. The eighth volume has a register, volume 9 is taken up by the translation of Hegesippus. Schreckenberg 32.
Book number: 56411

JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS Sämmtliche Wercke, als zwantzig Bücher von den alten Jüdischen Geschichten, eines von seinem Leben, zwei von dem alten Herkommen der Juden ... nebst einem Uberbleibsel der Rede Josephi an die Griechen ... hierzu kommen ferner dessen sieben Bücher von dem Krieg der Juden mit den Römer und Egesippi fünff Bücher von der Zerstörung der Stadt Jerusalem, alles nach dem Grund-Text ... neu übersetzet, auch über dieses mit einer nöthigen Einleitung in die Wercke Josephi ... versehen en ausgefertigt von Johann Friderich Cotta. 2 vols. in one. . Half title, engraved frontispiece, title-page (in red and black), 30 (28 numbered), 20, 736, 212, 178 (recte 174), 12, 34 p., 8 (1 folding) engraved plate and 1 folding engraved map. [Contemporary calf, paneled spine with title, slightly rubbed and small tears in upper part spine, small white spots on front cover; clean and fine copy on the inside] Tübingen, bey Johann Georg Cotta, 1735, Folio.
First edition of Cotta's translation in the rarer 1735 impression. According to Schreckenberg (p. 40), only a few copies are dated 1735, instead of the more common 1736. Apparently Cotta was competing with Johann Baptist Ott's translation and both wanted to be the first to publish their edition. Both publications heavily lean on Lautenbach's translation, first published in 1569. Our edition is complete with the (folded) map of Palestine (often lacking) and contains some fine engravings, a.o. the Hanging gardens of Babylon (folding plate between pp. 312-313) and a view of Jerusalem (folding plate between pp. 150-151 Zweyter Theil). - H. Schreckenberg, Bibliographie zu Flavius Josephus, p. 40; Fürst II, pp. 122-123; Hoffman II, 453; Graesse III, p. 482.
Book number: 56412

JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS Dell' antichita de' Giudei libri XX. Della guerra de' Giudei libri VII. Libri due contra Apione ... Tradotti novamente per Francesco Baldelli. Two volumes in one. (36), 988; (16), 528 p. [19th-century green half calf, slightly rubbed; armorial ex-libris of one unidentified JCB on verso of both title-pages; a few insignificant wormholes, but still a good copy] Venice, Giolito de' Ferrari, 1582, Large 8to.
First complete Italian translation (in second issue) of all the works of the great Jewish historian (c. 37 - 95 A.D.), after Gelenius' Latin version. They include the annals of his people from the creation of the world to the outbreak of the war with Rome (67 A.D.), the Jewish Antiquities. Their sequel, the narrative of the war itself (67 - 73), is the oldest of Josephus' extant writings; its Aramaic original (the author's mother-tongue) has not been preserved, but the Greek version was prepared by himself with competent help. The other works are: Against Apion, an apology meant to rectify current misrepresentations of the Jews and named after the leader of the Alexandrine embassy, which opposed Philo and his companions when pleading for their Egyptian countrymen; finally his own Life, in which he defends himself against the accusation of being the cause of the Jewish rebellion.
To Francesco Baldelli from Tortona, the translator, we not only owe Italian versions of Philostratus, Dio Cassius, Caesar, and others; he was also an esteemed poet, especially of sonnets.
Hoffmann II 455; Brunet III 572; Graesse III 483; Schreckenberg 19; not in Adams; STC Italian 361.
Book number: 56413

JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS Alle de werken van Flavius Josephus. Behelzende twintigh Boeken van de Joodsche Oudheden, het Verhaal van zijn Eigen Leven, de Historie van de Oorlogen der Jooden tegen de Romeinen, de twee Boeken tegens Apion, en zijne Beschrijvinge van de Marteldoodt der Machabeen. Waarbij komt Het Gezantschap van Philo aan den Keizer Kaligula. Alles volgens de Overzettinge van den Heere d'Andilly in 't Nederduitsch overgebragt door W. Séwel. Nogh zyn daarby gevoegt De Vijf Boeken van Egesippus Van de Joodsche Oorlogen, en de Verwoestinge van Jerusalem. Amsterdam, Joannes Oosterwyk Boekverkooper, 1722, Folio, Contemporary blind-tooled vellum, (XXX), 782, (30), 113, (11) pp. Frontispiece engraving, 14 folding engravings (from which 2 are maps) and 209 engr. in the text. Dutch text in 2 cols.
Frontispiece and 111 engravings in the text are by Jan Luyken. See: W.C.Poortman, Bijbel en Prent, deel IIb, pp. 235-240. Schreckenberg, Supplementband 1979, p.172.
Book number: 56443

KATZENELSON, ITZHAK The song of the murdered Jewish people. Translated and annotated by Noah H. Rosenbloom Israel, Ghetto Fighters' House, 1980, Or. cloth with dustjacket, 133 pp. With portrait of the author. Contains facsimile of the original manuscript of the poet. Oblong.
Book number: 56251

KENNISGEVING Broadside. Text in Dutch. Notice of the Board of Parnassim of the Amsterdam Portuguese Community, Announcing Measures to Prevent Begging and Improper Conduct During Funeral Services at the Community's Cemetry in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. The lower line reads: "By Order of the Above-Mentioned Parnassim: Jb. van Raphl. Jessurun Cardozo, Secretary". Amsterdam, 1855, 16 x 20 inches.
See: Lydia Hagoort, Het Beth Haim in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (Hilversum, 2005), pp. 229-230 and 238. Gans (Memorbook p. 315) provides a cameo portrait of Jacob van Raphaël Jessurun Cardozo (1792-1869), who was appointed Cantor of the Portuguese community in 1812, and continued to serve in that capacity until 1847.
Book number: 56283

L'EMPEREUR, CONSTANTIN (ed.) Halikhot Olam im Mavo ha-Gemara. sive Clavis Talmudica. Complectens formulas, loca dialectica & rhetorica priscorum Judæorum. Latine reddita per Constantinum
L' Empereur ab Oppyck. (Talmudic methodology. Hebrew text with Latin translation) Leiden, ex officina Elseviriorum, 1634, Small 4to, Cont.vellum binding, somewhat, soiled but sound. 20 lvs, 232, (24) pp.
Fuks 50. StCB 5817/7. Shortly before publication of this work, the author was appointed by the University of Leiden as "Controversiarum Judaicarum Professor". With this title the author presents himself on the title page of Halikhot Olam, which he dedicated to the curators of the University.
See for a detailed discussion of this work, the only introductory work to the Talmud known until then, Van Rooden, Theology, Biblical scholarship and Rabbinical studies in the 17th century (Leiden 1989) pp. 128-130. The Hebrew author Jeshua ben Joseph ha-Levi from Tlemcen, composed this work towards the end of the 15th century. L'Empereur added a Latin translation, a long introduction, and indexes. Willems 398.
The Hebrew type employed for the text is a neat 8pt, certainly not identical with the Raph. squ. 7 as stated by Fuks nr. 50. Also the headlines are not sq. 3 but squ. 5.
Book number: 56408

LEEUW, JACOB HEYMAN DE Shoshanat Ya'akov (Novellae on ff23b-26b of tractate Ketubot). 2 parts in 1 vol. Leiden, H.W. Hazenberg & Comp. 1848, Modern cloth, marbled boards, XII, 317, (3), 20 pp. Uncut. 8vo.
Jacob de Leeuw (1811-1883), Dutch talmudist, and one of the very few rabbinical scholars in 19th century Holland who pursued traditional talmudical studies on an internationally acclaimed level. Not in StCB, Zedner, Roest. See: Vinograd, Leiden 69; Van Straalen, p.132.
Book number: 54994

LEIGH, EDUARD Dictionaire (sic) de la langue sainte, contenant toutes ses origines, ou les mots hébreux tant primitifs que dérivez, du Vieux Testament. Traduit en François et augmenté de diverses remarques par feu Mr. Louis de Wolzogue. Amsterdam, Pierre Mortier, 1703, 4to, Modern calf, 10 lvs including frontispiece engraving, 830, (48) pp. Good copy.
The French "Socinian" version of Edward Leigh's Critica sacra, that is, the Old Testament part of it (London 1650). Although restricted in its linguistical scope (only the radices primitivae, no comparative philology), the work enjoyed a great reputation for its exegetical contents, and the reader is constantly referred to the exegetes of the past century: Ainsworth, Amama, Arias Montano, Buxtorf, Cameron, Casaubonus, Cocceius, Crojus, De Dieu, Dillherr, Fagius, Foord, Junius, Lapide, Lightfoot, Mollerus, Rivet, Schindler, and many others are invoked. The work was especially popular in the Low Countries, and saw a translation into Latin (Amsterdam 1678) and French (this Amsterdam 1703 edition). See Wolf, Historia lexicorum 147-148. StBH 1127/10.
Pp. 763-830 contain a supplement, and the work ends with indexes for the more important Hebrew words, an index of proper names and a Scriptural index.
Book number: 56409

LEKSIKON FUN DER NEYER YIDISHER LITERATUR. Biographical dictionary of modern Yiddish literature. Publ. by the Congress for Jewish Culture. First editors Shmuel Niger & Yakov Shatski. 8 vols. New York, 1956-1965, Or. cloth in 8 vols. Large 4to. In very fine condition.
Covers Yiddish authors beginning with the 19th century. Some of the materials were abbreviated and updated from Reisen's {Leksikon}; numerous new names were added. The financial support for this work came from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Book number: 55042

LEUSDEN, JOHANNES Jonas illustratus per paraphrasin Chaldaicam, Masoram magnam & parvam; et per trium praestantissimorum Rabbinorum Schelomonis Jarchi, Abrahami Aben Ezrae, Davidis Kimchi ... ut et per Michlal Jophi ... auctore J. Leusden. Utrecht, F. Halma, 1692, Small 8vo, Contemp. vellum, 12 leaves including engraved title, 252, (4) pp. Slightly browned, but a good copy.
A fine in-depth edition of Jonah, a Bible text of 4 books in 48 verses: long enough to slake the Hebrew student's thirst, but short enough not to evoke his tedium, as Leusden puts it in the preface. In sections of one to three verses the Bible text and the Targum and three Rabbinical commentaries are all printed with their translations, only the Masorah unpointed, followed by Leusden's notes. As such the work was first published by Leusden in 1656, as one of his earliest didactical works. In this new edition Leusden suppressed the 7 preliminary dissertations, having been largely made superfluous by his three Philologi, but he added relevant unpointed sections from Jacob Abendana's Michlal Jophi, published Amsterdam 1661, with his notes. In this new version the work was defended in 13 sections by his students between 1686 and 1691. Fürst III 235 is unclear on the 1656 edition and does not mention the 1692 edition. Hirschel p. 43 does not mention the not unimportant difference between the two editions.
Book number: 56406

LEVIAS, CASPAR A grammar of the Aramaic idiom contained in the Babylonian Talmud with constant reference to gaonic literature. Cincinnati 1900. Reprint. Farnborough, 1971, Hardbound edition. VI, 255 pp. New & unused.
Book number: 29471

[LEVITA, ELIAH]
WEIL, GERARD E. Élie Lévita humaniste et massorète (1469-1549). Leiden, 1963, Or. cloth. XXIII, 428 pp. Illustrations in the text.
Elijah (Bahur; ben Asher ha-Levi Ashkenazi) Levita, Hebrew philologist, grammarian, and lexicographer (1468 or 1469-1549). Born in Neustadt, near Nuremberg, he spent most of his life in Italy (Padua, Venice and Rome) where he taught Hebrew language and grammar. His pupils included Christian humanists, from whom he learned Greek and Latin. Among his pupils he counted Sebastian Muenster, who translated Elijah's works into Latin, and Cardinal Egidius da Viterbo in whose home in Rome Elijah stayed for 13 years (1514-1527). Before entering the house of Egidius da Viterbo, Elijah also wrote secular literary works in Yiddish. To this period belongs {Bovo d'Antona} (Isny, 1541, but believed to have first been published in 1507) which became known as the {Bove-bukh} in later editions. He wrote many Hebrew grammar works, Hebrew and Aramaic dictionaries, and did masoretic research. He published Moses Kimhi's {Mahalakh}, with his own commentary, and wrote notes and critiques, {Nimmukim} (unpublished), on David Kimhi's {Mikhlol} and on his {Sefer ha-Shorashim}. Elijah did not introduce many innovations in his grammatical system; its easy and clear presentation, however, was instrumental in spreading the knowledge of the Hebrew language and grammar among Jews and Christian humanists. He was the first to point out that the vowels and accents did not originate in the Sinai period (as had been assumed until then, and was still accepted by Mendelssohn in his {Or li-Netivah} several centuries later), but in post-talmudic times. His research into the Hebrew language laid the foundations for the lexicography and etymology of Yiddish. {Shemot Devarim} (Isny, 1542) is the first known Yiddish-Hebrew dictionary. His Yiddish translation of Psalms (Venice, 1545), the first to be published, is based on earlier translations which closely followed the Hebrew text; it became a popular work, went through several editions, and served as a model to other translators.
Book number: 54960

LEVY, JACOB Wörterbuch über die Talmudim und Midraschim. Nebst Beiträgen von H.L. Fleischer. Zweite Auflage mit Nachträgen und Berichtigungen von Lazarus Goldschmidt. 4 vols. Berlin, Vienna, Benj. Harz Verlag, 1924, Or.cloth, X,572; 546; 742; 748 pp. 4to. Fine set.
The revised and enlarged version of the Neuhebraeisches und chaldaeisches Woerterbuch ueber die Talmudim und Midraschim (1876-89).This outstanding lexicon for talmudic and rabbinical literature is of particular importance because of the comparative study of its quotations; various versions from different manuscripts are given, explained and translated.
Book number: 54919

LEWIN, B.M. Otsar ha-Geonim (Responsa of the Babylonian Geonim according to the Tractates of the Talmud (Berakhot-Baba Metsia). Vols. 1-13. Haifa, Jerusalem, 1928-1962, Modern cloth, Fine set in uniform bindings.
Major and pioneering work in the field of geonic studies. An arrangement with notes, references and indexes of geonic responsa and commentaries in the order of the Talmud tractates. One more volume was published in 1966: {Otsar he-Geonim le-Massekhet Sanhedrin. Teshuvot u-Pherushim} by Ch.T. Taubes. Jerusalem 1966 (614 pp.)
Book number: 55183

[LITURGY]
Gebeden der Portugeesche Jooden door een Joodsch Genootschap uit het Hebreeuwsch vertaalt. 's- Graavenhaage, Lion Cohen, 1791-93. 4 vols. With engr. vignette on titles. Contemporary polished calf with gilt arms of De Pinto within gilt borders on both covers, spine dec. gilt with lion figures & owner's initials J.B.D.P. & with morocco labels. 8vo, Very fine set.
First translation of Hebrew prayers into Dutch started in 1786 by a group of young intellectuals under the name {Talmidei Tsaddik}, all disciples of tsadiek Cohen Belinfante (1732-1783), as the majority of Dutch Jews were no longer familiar with Hebrew, Portuguese or Spanish. Apart from unimportant stain on front cover vol.4 an unusual fine copy from the library of Jacob Benjamin de Pinto (1809-1886) who became a Protestant in 1841 and since 1845 one of the leaders of Dutch Baptists. See: Gans, Memorboek, p.427. Roest 331.
Book number: 56297

MAIMONIDES Eizeh Hilkhot mi-Yad ha-Chazakah la-Adonenu Morenu ha-Rambam. Auszüge aus dem Buche Jad-Haghasakkah, die Starke Hand, Handbuch der Religion. Nach dem Talmud zusammengestellt von Rabbi Moscheh-ben-Maimon, genannt Moses Maimonides aus Spanien. (Zum Unterricht in den ebräischen Schulen zweiten Ranges bestimmt) St. Petersburg, Ausgabe des Ministeriums der Volksaufklärung, 1850-1852, Small 8vo. Cont.hleather in 5 vols. Some traces of use, some brownings. A fine set.
Five-volume abridgment in Hebrew and a translation into German of the Code of Maimonides. Compiled and annotated by Leon Mandelstamm, the first Jew to enroll at a Russian University and, in succession of M. Lilienthal, plenipotentiary for the enlightenment of the Jews at the Russian Ministery of Education under the reign of Tsar Nicholas I. The German translation is by Chaim Sack from Lithuania. Titlepage in Hebrew and German, vol.1-3 containing an approbation by contemporary leading rabbis and writers, phrased to sound like a haskamah. The Hebrew text and the German translation each run to approximately three thousand pages of dense print which include, beyond the citations from the Mishneh Torah, a large number of supplementary notes and excursions by Mandelstamm, hundreds of his marginal annotations, and four epistles on the duty to love and obey the Emperor and to respect the Gentiles of the day. In the light of the Haskala views of the period, Mandelstamm chose to leave out all laws referring to the Temple in Jerusalem, sacrifices, ritual purity and sexual practices. A more subtle and oblique type of censorship engaged in by Mandelstamm is his expurgation of politically and religiously sensitive issues, among which the status of non-Jews in halakhah, and the consequent norms for relations between Jews and gentiles, Messianism (as opposed to the position of present-day kings in Jewish law and life), and matters pertaining to slaves and forced labor. Between the lines of this Tsarist Mishneh Torah Mandelstamm weaves a plea for the emancipation of the Jews in Russia. Throughout the five volumes of text, he repeatedly stresses that the Jews are regarded to obey all the laws of the Russian state. Exactly reproducing the wording of the Russian Code of Laws, he writes: "Our brethren, the Children of Israel who dwell under the protection of the glorious land of Russia are subject, like all the rest of the nations, to the general laws of the state, in all cases for which there is no explicit statement in the laws of the Empire that there are specific laws and regulations in our behalf" ({He' arah Hilkhot Sanhedrin}). This set, exceptionally, includes the {Hilkhot Melakhim} which was censored in most known volumes of the edition, and is lacking in the copies of some U.S. Universities like Harvard, YIVO and Columbia University. Vinograd, Petersburg 6.
Book number: 52583

MAIMONIDES Mishneh Torah hi-ha-Yad ha-Chazakah. With commentaries of Joseph Caro, Abraham ben David of Posquieres and Levi Ibn Chaviv. Revised edition and index (by R.B.U Chazak). Vol. 4 (of 4) only. Venice, Printed for Alvise Bragadini by Parenzo, 1576, Old vellum, soiled, Titlepage with the printer's mark of Bragadini on titlepage and verso, 9 lvs, different printer's mark of Parenzo after 9th leaf, 297 lvs, 18 lvs.
This is volume 4 of a new edition of the Mishneh Torah printed by the Bragadini Press after their resumption in 1563, a risky business as Hebrew printing was forbidden in 1571 by the Venetian Senate. Bragadini's printer Meir Parenzo died during the printing of the Code and it was completed by his brother Asher. This edition of the Code served as a model for most later editions, including the medieval commentaries by Abraham of Posquières and Vidal of Tolosa which had appeared in Bragadini's first edition. (Brad Sabin Hill in Hebraica Saec. X ad Saec. XVI Manusripts and Early Printed Books from the Library of the Valmadonna Trust. 1989; Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy. 1988). This vol. 4 has the titlepage with the 3 crowns of Bragadini and Parenzo's printer's mark on verso of the titlepage. This is the mark depicting a nude Venus standing over a seven-headed dragon. Our volume contains one more Parenzo mark (on leaf 9) which shows a phenix besides a mountain and laurel wreath. Previous owners' stamps on titlepage and last leaf (Moshe Ephraim Zuckermann, Posen. Ex libris in binding (front) Salomon Jakob Florsheim, Autograph of Kalischer (probably Hirsch Zwi Kalischer). Vinograd, Venice 600.
Book number: 52617

MAIMONIDES Perush ha-Mishnah. Maimonidis commentarius in Mischnam. E codicibus Hunt. 117 et Pococke 295 in bibiotheca Bodleiana Oxoniensi servatis et 72-73 bibliothecae Sassooniensis Letchworth. Introductionem hebraice et britannice scripsit Solomon D. Sassoon. Accessit S.M. Stern, Decem scripta autographa Maimonidis... Facsimile edition in 3 vols. (Corpus Codicum Hebr. Medii Aevi 1). Copenhagen, Munksgaard, 1956-1966, Oversized Folio, Modern hleather in 3 vols. Nice and solid binding. New & unused.
A sumptuous facsimile copy of the extant five parts of Maimonides' Commentary to the Mishna in the author's own handwriting. With introductions in English by S.D. Sassoon.
Book number: 48921

MARMORSTEIN, ARTHUR Studies in Jewish theology. Memorial volume, ed. by J. Rabbinowitz and M.S. Lew. London 1950. Reprint. Farnborough, 1970, Or. cloth. XLVI, 228, 92 pp. With portrait.
Seven essays in English and three in Hebrew on Talmudic literature, published in various periodicals 1915-1945, with a bibliography of Marmorstein's writings.
Book number: 29491

MARMORSTEIN, ARTHUR The Old rabbinic doctrine of God. I: The names and attributes of God. II: Essays in anthropology. 2 vols. (Jews' College Publications 10 and 14) London 1927-37. Repr. in 1 vol. Farnborough, 1969, Or. cloth. 217, 170 pp.
Book number: 37991

MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL De resurrectione mortuorum libri III. Quibus animae immortalitas & corporis resurrectio contra Zaducaeos comprobatur: caussae item miraculosae resurrectionis exponuntur: deque judicio extremo, & mundi instauratione agitur; Ex sacris literis, & veteribus Rabbinis. Amsterdam, typis & sumptibus auctoris, 1636. [Contemporary half vellum, title in ink on spine, upper part of spine browned, boards chafed; small paper damage in lower margin of title-page, partly affecting the publisher's date; small waterstain in lower blank corner, else a good copy; ex-libris of Dr. A. J. van Praag] Small 8vo, 12 lvs, 346, (6) pp.
First edition of this very rare Latin work, written, printed and published by the great Amsterdam rabbi at his own expense. The work, of which an edition in Portuguese appeared in the same year, sets out to discuss the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul as opposed by the Sadducees and all later adherents to this school . The title-page has one of Menasseh's printer's marks, a so-called magical square. It is divided into 9 smaller squares each containing a letter, which when you read it either horizontally or vertically make up the words of Psalm 85 v. 11. The work was reprinted in Groningen 1676. - Da Silva Rosa 25.
Book number: 56422

[MIDRASH]
Mekhilta. The Munich Mekilta (Manuscript) Bavarian State Library, Codex Hebr. 117. Facsimile edition edited with an introduction by Judah Goldin (Early Hebrew Manuscripts in Facsimile 7). Copenhagen, 1980, Large folio (outsized). Or.wrps. 222 facsimile pages.
A splendid facsimile edition, with introduction in English (19 pp.)
Book number: 40831

[MISHNAH]
Mischna sive totius Hebraeorum juris, rituum, antiquitatum, ac legum oralium systema, cum clarissimorum rabbinorum Maimonidis & Bartenorae commentariis integris. Quibus accedunt variorum auctorum notae ac versiones in eos quos ediderunt Codices. Latinate donavit ac notis illustravit Guilielmus Surenhusius. 6 parts in 3 vols. Amsterdam, G. & J. Borstius, 1698-1703, Folio, 19th cent. calf, rubbed, hinges split, spines sl. dam. Internally a very fine set with wide margins, 6 engraved frontispieces and 8 full page engravings.
The monumental bilingual Surenhusius edition, offering the six books (Orders) of the Mishna in Hebrew text, for the first time with Latin translation in parallel columns. After each mishna follow the commentaries of Bartenora and Maimonides in Latin translation, again in parallel columns, with catchwords to their own columns on the next page. For 26 (out of 63) tractates the Mishna translations of earlier Christian Hebraist have been included, as well as their commentaries: Fagius (Avot, the only 16th-century one); two pre-1650 editors: L'Empereur (Bava Kamma and Middot), and Coccejus (Sanhedrin and Makkot); and recent commentators: Guisius, Lund, Otho, Sheringham, Houting, Wagenseil, Ulmann, Peringer, Seb. Schmidt, and Arnoldi. Sometimes these commentaries occupy several pages. For all other texts Surenhuis supplied his own translation, and commentary where necessary. The prefaces of Maimonides to each book are also translated. Thus this Mishna edition is the crowning piece of 17th-century Christian Hebraism - in the 18th century interest in these matters would decline considerably.
Surenhuis (1664-1729) studied in Groningen Oriental languages, and afterwards at Jewish colleges in Amsterdam. In 1704 he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at the Amsterdam Athenaeum. He considered the Mishna to be a body of law superior to the Codex juris civilis, since Jewish law promotes personal virtues, not general law and order. Moreover, it is intelligible to non-scholars, and has preserved the older opinions and jurisprudence, thereby providing insight into its development: two features lacking conspicuously in the Roman codex. But Surenhuis was also in general a decided supporter of the Jewish community. He faithfully reproduced the Jewish interpretation of the Mishna and refrained from taking a critical stance, for which later commentators blamed him. On the other hand his close relationship with the Jews enabled him to include a number of engraved plates in his work, illustrating various interpretations of the Mishna which were prepared by Jewish scholars, such as Leon Templo and Moses Aguillar. Most of the plates have 8 to 16 illustrations, all with Hebrew legends. They were engraved for him by rabbi Isaac Coenraads, whose untimely death was the reason that only the first three volumes have been illustrated.
See P. T. van Rooden, "Willem Surenhuis' opvatting van de Misjna", in Driehonderd jaar Oosterse talen in Amsterdam, uitgegeven door J. de Roos, A. Schippers, J. W. Wesselius (Amsterdam 1986) pp. 43-54. {Same article in English in:} Reuchlin und seine Erben. Hrsg. von Peter Schäfer & Irina Wandrey. Ostfildern, 2005, pp.97-110. EJ XV, col. 524, Fuks nr. 612, Steinschneider CB 2012, Wolf II 885-88, Friedberg 3988.
Book number: 55418

[MISHNAH]
The Mishnah translated from the Hebrew with introduction and brief explanatory notes by Herbert Danby. Oxford 1933. Reprint. Oxford, 1950, Or. cloth. XXXII, 844 pp.
"Herbert Danby 's (1889-1953) reputation rests on his English translation of the {Mishnah}, which is considered a standard reference work." Enc.Jud. 5, p.1262
Book number: 50418

NEUMARK, DAVID Essays in Jewish philosophy. A selection from the scattered essays, lectures and articles, among which some major studies on the principles of Judaism, on the philosophy of Saadya and of Jehuda Hallevi, and on Crescas and Spinoza. Ed. with a bibliography of the author's writings by Samuel S. Cohon. Cincinnati 1929. Repr. Amsterdam, 1971, Or.cloth. VI, 376 pp.
Book number: 54784

PREUSS, JULIUS Biblisch-talmudische Medizin. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Heilkunde und der Kultur überhaupt. Berlin 1911. Reprint. Farnborough, 1969, Or.cloth. VIII, 735 pp. Very fine copy.
Book number: 3443

[QUEEN VICTORIA]
Tefillah. Jubilee Service. Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the protection afforded to our most gracious Sovereign, Queen Victoria, during a long and prosperous reign. To be used in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogues, on Sunday, the 19th of June, 5647-1887. By the Rev. Dr.M.Gaster, Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Great Britain, 1887, Small 4to (22 x 18 cm), Old wrps. Both covers stained, interior text fine. 12 pp. Hebrew and English.
Book number: 56435

RELANDUS, HADRIANUS Palestina opgeheldert. Ofte de gelegentheyd van het Joodsche Land. Uyt de gedenkstukken der Ouden getrokken en op vaster Gronden als voorheen aangetoont en beweezen door den Heer Adriaan Reland. Volgens zijn Hoogw: bestek ten dienste der Nederlanders uyt zyn Latynsch Werk getrokken, en met de nodige Landkaarten ter opheldering noodig voorzien. Hier is vooraangevoegt de Lykreden op deszelfs Overlyden door den Heer Professor Serrurier. Utrecht, Willem Broedelet, 1719, 8vo, Cont.vellum, soiled & dampstained, (6),(62),116,428,(44) pp., Title page in red and black, engr. frontispiece, engr.portrait, 7 fold. maps, and 1 fold.table. Inside a sound copy.
Dutch shortened translation of the Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata (1714), prepared according to Relandus's own instructions (he died in 1718). At the beginning a funeral oration by J. Serrurier is printed, and a few poems by J. de Haes.
Book number: 28796

RELANDUS, HADRIANUS Analecta Rabbinica, comprehendentia libellos quosdam singulares ... in usum Collegii Rabbinici. Utrecht, ex officina T. Appels, 1702, Small 8vo, 19th century half morocco by, J.Heritier. 24 lvs. (last 2 blank), 208,96,144,184 pp. Slightly browned and tiny hole in one leaf; otherwise a fine copy.
First edition of this fundamental collection of older studies on Rabbinical tradition, containing Genebrardus' Isagoge Rabbinica (1-208), Cellarius' Rabbinismus (1-96), Drusius' De particulis Rabbinicis (1-40), Shabbetai's Index commentariorum Rabbinicorum qui in Sacrum Codicem aut partes ejus conscripti sunt (41-56), Bartoloccius' Vitae Rabbinorum (57-144) and Kimhi's Commentarius in [aliquot, i. e. 1-10] Psalmos (1-178), the last one printed in rashi characters and with the Latin translation of A. Janvier. The work is concluded by a letter of Amama to Coccejus de sensu verborum R. Kimchii (179-184). Wolf II 592, Steinschneider BH 1661, CB 6822. Nat 15. The work was reissued with identical text in 1722.
Book number: 56400

RELANDUS, HADRIANUS Antiquitates sacrae veterum Hebraeorum, delineatae ab Hadriano Relando. Praefationem praemisit J.F.Buddaeus. Bound with: DASSOVIUS, T. Antiquitates Hebraicae quam plurima utriusque Foederis loca difficiliora illustrantes. Accedit J.A.Fabricii Notitia scriptorum qui antiquitates Hebraicas illustrant. Leipzig, J.F.Wehrmann, 1724 - Copenhagen/Leipzig, F.C. Mummius, 1742. Two volumes in one. Contemporary calf, Frontispiece plate by J.C.Oberdorffer, 7 lvs., 496, (64) pp.; 4 lvs., 374 pp. blank leaf.
Relandus' {Antiquitates} was first published in 1708. This German edition repeats the Jena 1713 one (Fürst III 150 does not mention this reedition), based on the second Dutch edition of 1712. In our copy the work is combined with an edition of 42 Old Testament lectures by T.Dassovius incorporating an historical overview of the subject by the well-known bibliographer Fabricius. Not in Fürst! Jöcher II 36 has the date 1743.
Book number: 56401

RUBENS, ALFRED A Jewish Iconography. Limited edition of 500 copies. London, The Jewish Museum, 1954, Or. half vellum over burgundy cloth, 160 pp. Frontispiece and 74 plates, quality paper, gilt edges.
Book number: 56372

SAFRAI, S. & M. STERN (eds.) The Jewish people in the first century. Complete set in 2 vols. Historical geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions. (Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 1, section 2). Assen, 1974-1976, Or. cloth in 2 vols. XXII, X, 1283 pp.
Book number: 42436

SAIGE, GUSTAVE Les Juifs du Languedoc antérieur au XIVe siècle. Paris 1881. Reprint. Farnborough, 1971, Or.cloth. X, 388 pp.
Book number: 31419

SCHINDLER, VALENTIN Lexicon pentaglotton Hebraicum Chaldaicum, Syriacum Talmudico-Rabbinicum & Arabicum. [Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin, arms on covers, all edges gauffered and gilt stamped, rubbed; part of lower margin of title-page torn off (without loss of text), stamp with manuscript entry on the same, repeated stamp on front endpapers, lightly browned (less than to be expected); very good internally and the binding still quite attractive] Hanau, typis Joh. Jac. Hennei, 1612, Folio, Modern hleather, 8 leaves, 1992 cols. (20) pp. (Rasche Teboth), (66) leaves (Indices).
Schindler's most important work, published after his death (1604) by E. Engels and W. Keuchenius. This lexicon first pointed the way to a more extensive use of the Semitic dialects. The author used every possible source for comparative purposes, and his work, together with the publications of Hottinger (1661) and Castell (1669) are still the only three comparative lexica of Semitic languages ever published. Segert, Considerations, 470; Tendenzen, 169. S.K. Jones, The history of a lexicon (London 1914). Gesenius 114; Wolf, Historia 124-128; Diestel 452-453; Steinschneider BH 1802. Schindler also used Persian and Turkish for his purposes, and of Arabic it has been suggested that he may have considered this language as being older than Hebrew - a higly unusual idea at the time. See Segert-Beránek 40. In any case, his lexicon is the first one in the field of Arabic studies, preceding that of Raphelengius by one year. Bohn, De fatis, 27. The Hanau edition seems to be a second issue of the same year. The edition with the imprint Frankfurt (also typis Hennei) has cum indice gemino on the title-page, and moreover lacks the preface by Engels. The printing office of Johannes Jacobus Henneus (Hans Jakob Hene) at Hanau is famous for the Hebrew works which it produced in a short time (1610-1630) with its attractive sephardi types. See Steinschneider & Cassel, Jüdische Typographie, 31.
Book number: 11420

SCHNURRER, CHRISTIANUS FRIDERICUS DE Bibliotheca Arabica, auctam nunc atque integram edidit. Reprint of the Halle 1811 edition. And: V.Chauvin, Table alphabétique de la Bibliotheca Arabica. Amsterdam, 1968, Or.cloth, XXI, 529, 89 pp. Hardbound edition, as new.
Still the standard work of reference for pre-1800 Arabic publications. The work was continued by V. Chauvin, see his Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes I (1892) pp. XXI-XXIV. He also published an index to Schnurrer therein, reproduced together with the main work in the above reprint.
Book number: 54961

SCHOLEM, GERSHOM Kitvei-Yad be-Kabalah. Catalogus codicum Cabbalisticorum hebraicorum quot conservantur in Bibliotheca Hierosolymitana. Pars prima: Cabbala. Jerusalem, 1930, Or. wrps. XII, 262 pp. In Hebrew. Uncut new copy. First original edition.
Published as Special Supplement to Kirjath Sepher, V.7. Shunami 3038
Book number: 54959

SHALOM, ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC (d.1492 Spain) Sefer Neveh Shalom. Facsimile reprint of the original Venice 1574 edition. Farnborough, 1969, Or.cloth, Hebrew.
Shalom's major work, a series of homilies drawn from Berakhot, in which he also defends Maimonides' philosophy against Levi ben Gershom and Crescas (Enc. Jud. 14, p. 1270)
Book number: 14598

SHOLEM ALEICHEM (1859-1916) Ale verk. 28 vols. New York, 1919-1923, Or.cloth, 1 vol. with different binding. A few vols. sl. stained or worn. In Yiddish.
A very rare complete set of all of Sholem Aleichem's works. Reyzen 4, 673-736.
Book number: 557

SIMCHAH BEN SAMUEL OF VITRY Machzor Vitry (Halakhic liturgical compendium) nach der Handschrift im British Museum zum ersten male hrsg. und mit Anmerkungen versehen von S. Hurwitz. Einleitung und Register mit Beiträgen von A. Berliner. Kuntras ha-Piyyutim. Nach der Machzor-Vitry-Handschrift bearbeitet und herausg. von H. Brody. Nürnberg, J. Bulka, 1923, Cloth, 801, 16, 87 pp. 4to.
2nd edition. The first edition appeared in Mekitsei Nirdamim 1894-1899.
Book number: 55341

SPENCER, JOHN (1630-1693) De legibus Hebraeorum ritualibus et earum rationibus. Libri tres. Cantabrigiae (Cambridge), ex officina J. Hayes, impensis R. Chiswel, bibliopolae ... Londini, 1685, Folio, Cont. calf, rubbed, edges slightly, damaged; inside a fine crisp copy. 8 lvs, 1051 pp.
First edition of an influential work, by John Spencer (1630-93), Dean of Ely and Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It is one of the founding works of the study of comparative religion, in which the author discusses the relations between Hebrew rituals and beliefs, and those of other Semitic peoples. With examples produced from sacrificial rites, the Temple, and its appurtenances, and e. g. the institution of the scapegoat, Spencer links these laws and customs to those of other civilisations. The present work, consisting of three books is devoted to the laws and customs of Biblical and divine origin. A fourth book, dealing with the rabbinic institutions and largely based on Maimonides, is referred to in the work, but was published only after his death, in 1727. See EJ XV 261, Diestel 541-43, New Schaff-Herzog XI 41.
The work is arranged as follows: After a general survey of Jewish laws and rites (pp. 1-232) follows, with a separate title-page dated 1683, the second book dealing with Mosaic laws underlying the Sabian rites [Zabiorum ritus]. Spencer properly distinguishes the Sabians (a sect much concerned with astrology and the heavenly phenomena) from the Sabaeans (or Mandaeans - see Pallis 44 & 82).
The third book (p. 517ff., with a title-page dated 1684) contains eight dissertations on the origin of sacrifices, the Ark of Covenant, the scapegoat, on Urim & Thummim (earlier published in 1669), etc.
A portrait by Vertue is mentioned in DNB Compact 1970 as belonging to this edition, which we doubt.
Our edition has an additional interest in that it definitely proves the survival of Raphelengius' 30pt Arabic types, bought by Bedwell in 1612 for Cambridge University and then never seen again. Next to the numerous Hebrew quotations a few are in Arabic, and they are clumsily set in Raphelengius' types (pp. 237-39, 242, 278). In the course of the printing new Arabic types arrived at Cambridge (the Erpenian 16pt imitation earlier used by Selden in his London publications, see PO 369c), and from p. 431 on the Arabic quotations are composed with these new types, except for p. 552 where a Raphelengian kâf is still visible!
The Hebrew types employed in the work also saw a change halfway through the printing process: the light face pointed Long Primer Hebrew used for Biblical quotations makes way for a pointed English Hebrew until then only unpointed was used for rabbinical quotations. Both types are very similar to the Oxford types illustrated in Hart p. 98.
The book contains on verso of first blank the armorial ex libris of "The most honourable Iohn Marques of Tueedalle Earle of Grifford Viscount Walden, Lord Hay of Yester &c."
Book number: 56410

SPERBER, ALEXANDER (ed.) The Bible in Aramaic based on old manuscripts and printed texts. 4 parts in 5 vols. Leiden, 1959-1973, Or.cloth, Very fine set.
The hardbound edition now out of print.
Book number: 55653

STERN, ITZIG FEITEL (Pseud. for Friedrich Freiherr von Holzschuher) Israels Verkehr und Geist in jüdischen Charakterzeichnungen, Erzählungen, Gedichten u.s.w. Schulklopfer für die hauslöbliche Jüdenschaft. Zweite, verbesserte, vermehrte und mit vielen Abbildungen verschönerte Auflage. Bound with: Itzig Feitel Stern, Das Schabbes-Gärtle von unnere Leut. Chittische Meloche. Eppes mit ä Rorität Geblumes fürn Brautschmuck. 4.Auflage. Meissen, Fr.W.Goedsche'sche Buchhandlung, 1851. 184 pp. Frontispiece plate and 10 black & white engravings. Top and bottom spine slightly damaged. Meissen, bei F.W.Goedsche, 1833, Small 8vo, Cont.hleather with marbled boards, Frontispiece plate in colour, illustrated title-page, VIII, 117, (1) pp. and 4 black & white copper plate engravings. Very nice copy.
Since Moses Mendelssohn Jewish enlightenment, or {Haskalah}, spread from Berlin through Galicia to the south and to the Baltic lands in the north. The Jewish community in German-speaking lands devoured Mendelssohn's Bible translation (1780-1783), translated into German but published in Hebrew characters, as well as his other writings on language, religion and culture. How quickly the acculturation of the Jews in the German-speaking area proceeded might be best judged by the fact that in 1833 Friedrich Freiherr von Holzschuher could publish viciously anti-Semitic parodies of plays, songs, and parodied Talmud quotations in his {Louberhuttenkranz fer den Eisig Herzfelder seiner Louberhütt}. He was able to create his fictive author Itzig Feitel Stern as a writer of mock-Yiddish who spoke a mangled language which was neither Yiddish nor German, but {Gemauschel}, German spoken with a Yiddish accent. Written for a German-Christian audience this, and other publications by Holzschuher, encapsulate the Jewish self-image of the Haskalah, specifically in terms of the image of Jews' language. And the reason for that is demographic. By the time "Itzig Feitel Stern" was created, the movement had begun to replace western Yiddish with German (or, in the Rhine area with French), and the image of the "old Jew" became tied to his or her incompetency in German. Jews now speaking German and non-Jews both labeled the accented language of the "old Jew" a sign of deviancy, a sign that these Jews were like the smelly, filthy Jews of the east (a stereotype adopted by German-Jewish consciousness shaped upon the western European fantasy of the Russian hordes.) The subject matter of all Holzschuher's works is identical: the narrow-minded blindness of the Jew. This "comic" presentation of the Jew has as its intent the undermining of any sense that the Jew could change from his negative image which dominated the Christian consciousness. The books by Holzschuher are written in roman letters and are stripped of most of its Hebrew elements. What Hebrew elements are preserved are those that Yiddish shared with the thieves' jargon, words that would have been available in the common patois of the fictionalized criminal of the German adventure tales. See: Friedrich Christian Benedict Avé-Lallemant, Das Deutsche Gaunertum (..), (Leipzig 1862). And for thorough analysis of this phenomenon of {mauscheln}: Sander L. Gilman, Inscribing the other, (Lincoln & London 1991) and from the same author: Jewish self-hatred, (Baltimore & London 1986).
Freimann, Katalog 1932, p.158-159; Eichstadt 2821; Vinograd, Meissen 4.
Book number: 56333

STRATEN, JITS VAN Besnijdenissen en geboorten in Amsterdam 1697 - 1811. Circumcisions and births in Amsterdam 1697 -1811. Bennekom, 2004, Or.boards, oblong, VII, 550 pp.
Since no birth records are known to be kept by the Jewish community of Amsterdam before 1785, the one hundred handwritten circumcision booklets in the Amsterdam Municipal Archives form a unique demographic source of knowledge of the Amsterdam community. All names and additional data are listed in this work. The records of the book can be searched according to several different indexes. Preface and introduction in Dutch & English.
Book number: 56436

STUDIA ROSENTHALIANA. Tijdschrift voor Joodse wetenschap en geschiedenis in Nederland. Complete set. Vols. 1-40 (sofar publ.) Amsterdam, Leuven, 1967-2008, Or.wrps.
Journal for Jewish History and Literature in the Netherlands, published by the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, which is most famous for its Sephardica collection. Mainly in English (early volumes contain Dutch contributions). Publication in progress.
Book number: 45390

[SZYK, ARTHUR]
Haggadah shel Pesach. Executed by Arthur Szyk. Edited by Cecil Roth Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, published by Massadah and Alumoth, 1957, 4to, Or. royal blue velvet binding. 56 double-leaved pages with the Hebrew text, an English translation, and profusively illustrated in full color.
Arthur Szyk (Lodz 1894-New York 1951), illustrator, miniaturist and cartoonist. He illustrated many books, among them The Book of Esther, Flaubert's Temptations of Saint Anthony and Ludwig Lewisohn's Last days of Shylock. In 1940 he went to the U.S., where he draw cartoons lampooning the Nazi leaders. These were collected in a volume, The New Order (1941). Szyk was noted for his refined draftmanship and calligraphy, in the style of medieval manuscript-illumination, as shown in the sumptuous edition of the Haggadah (first published 1940). This Haggadah, described by the Times of London as "worthy to be placed among the most beautiful books that the hand of man has produced", was executed in a close imitation of the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. His Hebrew lettering is superbly decorative and his colors have the luminosity of Gothic stained glass windows.
This copy's front and back boards gilt-stamped with Kiddush goblet motif, illustrated endpapers, in the original three-quarter morocco clamshell box.
Book number: 56428

[TALMUD BAVLI]
Talmud Bavli. Traditional text and commentaries according to edition Vilna-Romm. Reprinted in 20 vols. Jerusalem, published by Tal Man, Folio, Or.cloth.
Book number: 49480

[TALMUD BAVLI]
Der babylonische Talmud. Nach der ersten zensurfreien Ausgabe unter Berücksichtigung der neueren Ausgaben und des handschriftlichen Materials neu übertragen von Lazarus Goldschmidt. 2.Auflage. 12 vols. Berlin, Jüdischer Verlag, 1964-1967, Or.cloth. Very nice set.
Book number: 48045

[TALMUD BAVLI]
The Babylonian Talmud, translated into English. With notes, glossary and indices. Ed. by Isidore Epstein. London 1935-1952. Reprinted on thin paper in 18 vols., incl. index volume. Special limited anniversary edition. London, Soncino Press, n.d. 8vo, Original red cloth, Printed on thin paper. Very fine set.
Book number: 52648

TOSSANUS, P. Dictionum Hebraicarum, quae universo [sefèr tehillim] continentur, syllabus geminus. Quorum prior radices ... posterior derivata atque composita ... complectitur. Basel, [Conrad Waldkirch], 1615, 12mo, Contemporary vellum binding, 298 pp., 1 blank leaf. Scribbling and doodling on flyleaves, a few small ink stains on the title-page, but a good copy.
Rare only edition of this small dictionary, treating of the Hebrew roots in 1171 paragraphs and listing at the end all the composite forms contained in the Psalter. In the same years various other grammars and dictionaries by Buxtorf were printed at the Waldkirch press, all published by Ludwig König. Was this dictionary published at the author's own expense? Prijs 213, Steinschneider BH 2016. Paisey T607. Collation: A-M12N6.
Book number: 56396

WEISS, ISAAC HIRSCH Dor Dor we-Dorshav (The History of the Oral Law). 5 vols. 1871-1891. Reprint. Berlin, 1924, Or.cloth in 5 vols. In Hebrew.
{Dor Dor we-Dorshav}, a history of the Oral Law from its beginnings, -before the Written Law-, until after the expulsion from Spain, deals not only with the sequence of the {halakhah}, but also with the development of the {aggadah}, with the history of talmudic and rabbinic literature and with the character traits of important sages. The work is distinguished by its picturesque and fluent language and by its vivid description.
Book number: 46254

YANNAI Piyyutei Yannai. (Liturgical poems of Yannai collected from Geniza-Manuscripts and other sources by Menahem Zulay.) (Publications of the Research Institute for Hebrew poetry. Third Series vol. 2) Berlin, Schocken, Hebrew Publ. Comp. 1938, Or. boards, XXII, 439 pp. in Hebrew. Very fine copy.
Yannai, liturgical poet, one of the principal representatives of the old Palestinian {piyyut}, must have lived in Palestine, obviously some centuries before Saadiah, who already considers Yannai to belong to the dim past. Yannai's personality was brought into new light in the 20th century with the discovery and publication of Cairo {genizah} fragments. In this critical edition of 1938 M. Zulay brought together many unknown texts by Yannai and collected all the works of Yannai known to him. Yannai's {kerovot} are written according to the triennial Palestinian cycle. He wrote essentially two kinds of {kerovot}: (1) The {kedustha}, a poem for the Sabbath morning service based on the first three benedictions of the {Amidah} and dealing with the biblical portion of each Sabbath. The third {kedushta} contains Yannai's name in acrostic; it also alludes to the {haftarah} of the relevant biblical portion; (2) The {shivata}, for the {Musaf} and the eve of Sabbaths and festivals, based on seven benedictions of the {Amidah} (the first three and the last three being always included).
Book number: 17918

YERUSHALMI, YOSEF HAYIM Haggadah and history. A panorama in Facsimile of five centuries of the printed Haggadah from the collections of Harvard University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Philadelphia, 1975, Or. cloth with dustjacket, 494 pp. Richly illustrated. Large 4to.
Book number: 55422

ZYLBERCWEIG, ZALMEN (ed.) Leksikon fun yidishn teater. (Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre). Compiled and edited by Zalmen Zylbercweig. Assisted by Jacob Mestel. Vols.1-6. New York, Warsaw, Mexico, 1931-1969, Large 4to, Or.cloth in 6 vols. XIV pp., 6132 columns. Profusely illustrated. In Yiddish.
Zalmen Zylbercweig (born in 1894 in Chortkov, Galicia) worked for half a century on his {Leksikon fun yidishn teater}. Three volumes were published with the collaboration of Jacob Mestel in 1931 (New York), 1934 (Warsaw), and 1959 (New York), a fourth in 1963 (Neww York). The 5th volume entitled {Kdoyshim band} (The Martyr's Volume) was published in Mexico in 1967 and contains biographies of 320 Jewish actors who died at the hands of the Nazis. The 6th volume (New York, 1969) was to contain a history of the Yiddish theater.
Book number: 49590