Biblia Hebraica, eleganti charactere impressa.
(Ben Israel, Menasseh).
Octavo. Full blue morocco with gold lettering and tooling on spine, and borders in gilt along covers. Dentelles. Vignette on Hebrew title page. Title-page crudely repaired. Last leaf in facsimile. Decorative title pages in Hebrew. Preface by Menasseh Ben Israel. Second edition of Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel's Bible. For this project he created a new Hebrew typeface. 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. Text in two columns with punctuation and cantillation marks, which are not in the first edition. Ben Israel's Bible stands as one of the hallmarks of 17th Dutch Jewish culture. This was one of the first Hebrew books printed by this community of returned conversos. Amsterdam would eventually replace Venice as the center for Hebrew printing. At the end of the Bible is the following passage, expressed in the Hebrew character: "Praise be to God, the Creator of the Universe, who has supported us to commence and finish this beautiful work: its completion was on the second day of the month Adar, in the year 5395 of the creation." Moderate rubbing with some abrasion along edges of binding. Hinges starting. Closed tear across repaired Hebrew title page. Very first leafs darkened, with upper corners slightly creased. Very minor and sporadic browning throughout. The last leaf is a copy of the original one. Preface in Latin, Text in Hebrew. Binding in overall fair to good-, interior in good condition.
Edition: Editio Nova (Second edition)
Binding: Hardcover
Book ID: 21216
Price: $2,500.00
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