Orden de Ros Asanah y Kypur: Traduzido en Espanõl, y de Nuevo Emmendado, y Añadido el Keter Malchut y Otras Cosas
Amsterdam: David Fereira y Mosseh Moreno Henriques/ David de Crasto Tartaz (David de Castro Tartas), 5423 [1663]. Hardcover. Duodecimo. 6.5x4.5". 479pp. Original brown calf boards with gilt-stamped motifs and raised bands on the spine. Blue ribbon marker. Edges of the book block in red. Marbled endpapers. The title page is illustrated with copper plate engravings, in the form of small vignettes of biblical scenes surrounding the text. This is an early Spanish-language edition of the complete Jewish High Holiday prayer book (Machzor) based on the original translation by Abraham Usque, (originally printed in Ferarra, Italy in 1553). This edition contains some added material not previously present, including most prominently Solomon ibn Gabirol's famed philosophical poem "Keter Malkhut" (Royal Crown), which over the years has come to be read as part of the Yom Kippur service in some Jewish traditions.
This edition of the Machzor was published by David Fereira and Mosseh Moreno Henriques to serve members of the then sizable Sephardic Jewish community in Amsterdam. A significant portion of the community would have been ex-Marranos (Jews, who had outwardly converted to Catholicism during the inquisition in Spain, who then immigrated and were able to reestablished their Jewish identity), and thus were unable to read Hebrew, hence the text's publication in Spanish. As stated in the foreword, this edition includes some additions to the text not included in previous versions, and omits some material deemed to have been unnecessary. The prayer book starts with the penitential prayers (Selichot, p.3-47) which includes decorative head and endpeices. This section is followed by the Rosh Hashanah service (p.48-195) and then the Yom Kippur service, including "Keter Malkhut" (p.254-289). The title page is illustrated with scenes from the biblical stories of King David, Saul and Goliath, and contain small captions underneath with corresponding biblical passages in Spanish.
There are a number of pagination printing errors including: p.45-46 are misprinted as 54 and 36, p.264 is misprinted as 164. p.450 is misprinted as 350, p.414 is misprinted as 144. Like in the case of the earlier 1652 edition of the work, pages 305-352 are misprinted as "321-368," but in this copy the leaf containing p. 353-354 (directly following "368") seems to be missing. Overall this edition follows very closely the 1652 edition of the same work in terms of pagination, content and organization. Includes large initials throughout the text. All text in Spanish.
Binding with rubbing, scratches and abrasions to the covers, spine and extremities. Some chipping to the head and tail of the spine. Interior front covers with some starting and the loosening of the endpapers. Title page with starting, light creases, stains and and light chipping on the top left corner, resulting in slight loss of image. Some light water staining along the top edge of the pages, with some other sporadic light staining throughout. Page 365 torn along the side edge, with no loss of text. Starting at a number of pages throughout the book. Binding in good-, interior in good condition overall. Binding protected with modern mylar. g- to g. Item #43956
*David ben Abraham de Castro (1630-1698), was a French-born Portuguese Jewish printer/publisher in Amsterdam. Between 1662 and 1701 his press printed the "Gazeta de Amsterdam", a newspaper for the exiled Sephardic Jewish community in Amsterdam. He started his printing career as a typesetter at the printing house of Menasseh Ben Israel, a printer and leading Rabbi in community (who printed the earliest Amsterdam edition of this work in 1630). Castro started his own business in 1662, making this edition, among his earliest publications.
References: RODRIGUEZ (1781), p. 643, KAYSERLING (1890), p. 62, PALAU(1923) 202416, PEETERS(1933) 1038.
Price: $3,250.00