Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Antiquities, Ceremonial Objects & Graphic Art
Mar 8, 2018
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USA
242 West 30th Street, 12th Floor, New York NY 10001
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Time in New York: 3 pm
Time in Israel: 10 pm
The auction has ended
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LOT 210:
KIMCHI, MOSES
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Estimated price:
$
5,000 - $7,000
Auction house commission:
25%
VAT: 8.875% On commission only
Users from foreign countries may be exempted from tax payments, according to the relevant tax regulations
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Sepher Dikduk (Mahalach Shvilei HaDa’ath). With introduction and commentary attributed to Benjamin ben Judah Bozecco.
Early owner’s inscriptions. ff. 34. The following leaves supplied in facsimile: 5, 8, 10-16, 21. Worn and stained, neat paper repairs, title-page and f. 6 with small portion supplied in facsimile. Modern vellum. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Ortona 1 (NLI copy incomplete).
Gershom Soncino, Ortona: 1519.
Exceptionally rare. The only Hebrew book printed in Ortona a small coastal town in the Italian region of Abruzzo.
The author R. Moses Kimchi (d. c. 1190), was the older brother of R. David Kimchi and raised him from a young age after the passing of their father. R. Moses was an accomplished scholar in his own right, and in addition to this work, issued popular commentaries to the books of Proverbs, Ezra and Nechemiah, which, while found in many contemporary rabbinic Bibles, are mistakenly attributed to ibn Ezra.
The first edition of the present work was issued in 1488 at the press of Gershom Soncino’s uncle, Joshua, making it the first Hebrew grammar book to be printed. In it, the author uses extraordinarily concise language to discuss the basic rules of Hebrew. The secondary title of the book, Mahalach Shvilei HaDa’ath, is an acrostic for the author’s name. Although attributed to R. Benjamin ben Judah, the commentary is really that of R. Elijah Levita Bachur. See M. J. Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, Vol. I, pp. 122-23.
