Auction 92 Part 1 Rare and Important Items
Mikneh Avram – Venice, 1523 – Hebrew-Latin Edition – Fine Copy with Contemporary Binding – Printed by Daniel Bomberg
Peculium Abrae, Grammatica Hebraea – Mikneh Avram, Hebrew grammar, by the physician and grammarian R. Avraham de Balmes. Venice: Daniel Bomberg, [1523].
Fine copy, in blind-stamped leather over wooden boards; clasps.
Hebrew (vocalized) and Latin on facing pages. The translation was presumably composed by Kalonymus ben David Kalonymus, who wrote the last section of the book – Shaar B'Taamei HaMikra, and brought the book to print.
On verso of the title page, a poem in Latin in honor of Daniel Bomberg, followed by a foreword in Latin by Daniel Bomberg. The author praises Bomberg in his preface.
A Hebrew-only edition was printed concurrently. The layout of the Hebrew text is almost identical. In the present edition, each row is numbered.
[315] leaves. 21 cm. Light-colored, high-quality paper, with wide margins. Good condition. Stains (dark stains to first leaves). Minor marginal worming to first leaves. Marginal open tear to title page, repaired with paper. Fine, contemporary binding – blind-stamped leather over wooden boards, with clasps. Blemishes and some worming to binding.
Habermann, The Printer Daniel Bomberg, no. 76.
Provenance: Collection of the Valmadonna Trust Library.