Tales of a Thousand and One Nights, translated to Judeo–Tajik. Kokand (Bukhara, Uzbekistan): Rachamim David Baioff, 1914–1915. Judeo–Tajik (Bukharian in Hebrew characters). Three parts in three volumes.

Three volumes. Part I: [2], 12 leaves, 13–104 pages. Part II: [1], 2, 171 pages. Part III: [2], 171–356 pages. Overall good–fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming, affecting text (primarily to vol. I). Stamps and handwritten inscriptions. New bindings.

Only part I is recorded in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book; the present item includes all three parts.

This is the first book in Hebrew characters printed in Kokand.
Provenance: Private collection.

of the Musical Score to the Cantillation

“De accentibus et orthographia linguae hebraicae” [“Pronunciation and Spelling of the Hebrew Language”] by Johannes Reuchlin. Hagenau (Alsace; today Haguenau, France): Thomas Anshelm, 1518. Latin and some Hebrew.

Third and last book by the learned German scholar Johannes Reuchlin, on the subject of Hebrew grammar and philology. The book deals with the diacritic cantillation marks or accents (known in Hebrew as “ta’amei hamikra” and in Yiddish as “trop”) which indicate how the text of the Torah is to be musically chanted. It also discusses the orthography of Biblical Hebrew. The book concludes with nine pages of musical score, to be read from right to left, giving the names of the Hebrew cantillation symbols, in Hebrew, and above the text, the musical notation corresponding to each symbol (in four musical parts). This represents one of the earliest known printings of a Hebrew musical score.

Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522), among the most prominent of German scholars in the Humanist approach of the Renaissance period, and regarded as the father of the study of Hebrew during this period. Outspoken proponent of an attitude of tolerance toward the Jews. Invested much of his energies in enriching his Christian co–religionists with the wisdom of Jewish sacred writings and Greek philosophy, and in teaching them the Hebrew and Greek languages. Studied Hebrew under Jakob ben Jehiel Loans, personal physician to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, and under Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno of Cesena. Continued with advanced studies in Kabbalah in Italy, and was influenced by the writings of the Italian philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). Reuchlin was considered to be among the fathers of the Reformation, even though he personally placed himself in opposition to that movement, and remained steadfast in his loyalty to Catholicism and the Vatican throughout his life. In the famously heated argument that erupted between him and the German Catholic theologian and convert from Judaism, Johannes (Josef) Pfefferkorn, Reuchlin emphatically denounced the burning of the Talmud. Consequently, and because of his insistence on the need to study and teach the Jewish religious texts, he found himself targeted by the Church’s institutions. His pamphlet titled “Augenspiegel” (“Eyeglasses”) was banned and condemned by force of an official decree issued by Pope Leo X on June 23, 1520, just eight days after the signing of the first scathing condemnation (eventually followed by excommunication) of Martin Luther. Earlier, Reuchlin himself was summoned before a court of the Inquisition which demanded that he recant, but he stood his ground and mostly refused. Notably, notwithstanding a prolonged chain of events in which many attempts were made to have him formally censured, he survived the entire affair unpunished. Reuchlin’s books on Hebrew grammar were thought to have played an important role in his overall theological–kabbalistic agenda, which, in principle, sought to rediscover the historical roots of the Christian faith through reference to its Judaic basis.
For further reading, see: W. Schwarz, “Principles and Problems of Biblical Translation, ” Chapter IV, Cambridge UP, London, 1955. Ch. VI.

LXXXIII, [5] ff. (misfoliation), approx. 25.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Open tear to edge of title page, mended with paper. Worming holes, some mended, with minor damage to text. Rear flyleaf cropped; bottom part missing. Multiple handwritten notations (contemporary). Decorated leather binding, with blemishes and wear.

Exhibition:
• The Book of Books: Biblical Canon, Dissemination and its People, Jerusalem, Bible Lands Museum, 2013.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, No. NHB. 139.

Precationes Hebraicae (Hebrew prayers) – Birkat HaMazon, with an abridgement of Sepher Aemana. Isny (southern Germany): Paul Fagius, 1542. Latin and Hebrew.
Text of Birkat HaMazon in Hebrew, with Latin translation and commentary, alongside an "emended" Christian version of passages of Birkat HaMazon, in which Jewish motifs were exchanged for Christian–Messianic motifs. This is followed by an essay in Hebrew and Latin – "What Prevents Jews from Believing", a shortened version of an antisemitic essay published by Paul Fagius in Sepher Aemana, a missionary book presented as the work of a Jew proving the veracity of Christianity (though it was presumably composed by Fagius himself).

[32] pages (gatherings: A–C4, A4). 19.5 cm. Good–fair condition. Stains, including dampstains and traces of past dampness, with mold. Leaves trimmed with damage to printed marginal notes. Handwritten inscriptions. New binding.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.144.

First two Latin editions of the book Yichus HaAvot, composed in Hebrew in the late 15th century:
1. Cippi Hebraici…, translated to Latin by Johann Heinrich Hottinger. Heidelberg: Samuelis Broun, 1659. First edition. Incomplete copy, lacking half of one engraving.
[36] leaves, 159, [9] pages + [2] engraved plates. Incomplete copy – one engraving lacking right half. 13 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and wear. Parchment binding. Wear and stains to binding. Labels remnants on spine.

2. Cippi Hebraici…, translated to Latin by Johann Heinrich Hottinger. Heidelberg: Samuelis Broun, 1662.
[13] leaves, 188, [4] leaves + [4] engraved plates (three double plates). Approx. 17 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor defects. Marginal tears and open tears to a few leaves. Tiny wormholes. Several inscriptions. Leather binding, damaged, partially restored.

Yichus HaAvot describes in detail the holy sites and graves of Tzadikim in Eretz Israel. It includes the main part of the medieval tradition of holy sites, shortly before the time of the Arizal. The work was supposedly composed in Eretz Israel in Hebrew in the late 15th century, and presumably first printed in Venice in the last decades of the 16th century (no extant copies of the first printed edition). These are the first two Latin editions, comprising the original Hebrew text with the Latin text, translated by the Swiss Hebraist Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1620-1667).
See: Elchanan Reiner, Traditions of Holy Places in Medieval Palestine – Oral versus Written (in: Offerings from Jerusalem; Portrayals of Holy Places by Jewish Artists. Israel Museum, 2002, pp. 14-15).

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.195, NHB.432.

Ten works by the Dutch Hebraist and theologian Johann Leusden. Utrecht, Leiden and Basel, 17th–18th centuries. Latin and some Hebrew.
1–5. Philologus Hebraeo–mixtus, a work on religion, philosophy and Jewish custom, with fine engravings and woodcuts depicting various Jewish customs – matzah baking, lighting Shabbat candles, a Jewish wedding, Brit Milah, and more. Five copies from four different editions (including the first edition). Utrecht, Leiden and Basel, 1663–1739.
6. Clavis Hebraica Veteris Testamenti, lexicon of Biblical Hebrew. Utrecht: Franciscum Halma, 1683.
7–8. Philologus Hebraeo–graecus generalis, philological study on Hebrew and Greek in the New Testament. Two different editions: Leiden: Jordanum Luchtmans, 1685; Basel: E. & J.R. Thurnisios, 1739.
9. Sive Translatio Hebraica Omnium Textuum Chaldaicorum, qui in Daniele, Ezra & in Jeremia Inveniuntur – Hebrew translation of Daniel and Ezra. Leiden: Jordanum Luchtman, 1685.
10. Philologus Hebraeus, work on the Hebrew language, Judaism and its commandments; including a list of the 613 commandments, a special chapter dedicated to Kabbalah and kabbalists, and a discussion of G–d's Names. Poem in Hebrew by Johann Leusden at the beginning of the book. Basel: E. & J.R. Thurnisios, 1739.

Ten works in five volumes (four in one volume, three in another volume, and the rest bound individually). Condition varies. The books were not thoroughly examined, and are being sold as is.

Additional work at the end of one volume: Phosphorus graecorum vocum et phrasium sacro–sancti Novi Testamenti theoretico–practicus, lexicon of Greek words in the New Testament, by Georg Crauser. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Johannis Theodori Fleischeri, 1676. Latin, with some Greek and Hebrew.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.336–9.