Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Kodesh Hilulim. Las Alabancas de Santidad. Traducion de los Psalmos de David, por la Misma Phrasis y Palabras del Hebrayco. Ilustrada con su Paraphrasis Que Facilita la Inteligencia del Texto, y Annotaciones de Mucha Dotrina, Sacadas de los Mas Graves Autores [BOOK OF PSALMS/ TEHILIM/ PSALTER]

Templo, Jacob Judah Aryeh Leon (trans. by)

Amsterdam: NP, 5431 [1671]. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 7.5x5". [16 leaves] 458pp. [3 leaves]. Rebound in modern dark brown leather boards, with blind-stamped tooling on the covers, gilt-stamped ruling, tooling and lettering on the spine. Raised bands. Title page bordered by Hebrew text encircling the Spanish. The book produced by Amsterdam Rabbi Jacob Judah Aryeh Leon (Templo), contains the text of the biblical book of Psalms, with Spanish translation, paraphrases, rabbinic commentary and additional annotations in Spanish. It is known to be Templo's last published work.

The work is dedicated to the author's friend, Isaac Chaim Senior Teixeira (1631-1705), a successful Jewish merchant, community leader and financier to the Queen of Sweden, in Hamburg. The initial section of unpaginated leaves contains the dedication, approbations from various leading Rabbis of the Amsterdam Jewish community of the day (in Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew), poems, and finally a forward by Templo. The content of the text is printed in a two column format, with the Hebrew and Spanish side by side. The running rabbinic commentary and annotations are in Spanish, in a single column format underneath. The text includes different font sizes and styles for these various sections. There some decorative initials (in Spanish), at the beginning of each "book" (section). There is a decorative woodcut tailpiece at the bottom of p.458, and the last 3 double-sided leaves contain a table of contents.

Printing errors: p. 68 as 86, p.77 as 67, p. 208 as 109, p.240 as 140, p. 343 as 143, p. 374 as 174, p.448 as 458, p.449 as 447.

Text in Spanish and Hebrew.

Interior with sporadic minor to light damp staining to some pages throughout. Age toning to some pages. Page 386 has a repaired diagonal tear, resulting in limited loss of text. There is a small hole on two pages of the forward. Text throughout clean overall. Binding in fine, interior in very good- condition overall. vg- to fine. Item #44625

Jacob Judah Aryeh Leon "Templo" (1603-1675) was a Dutch Sephardic Rabbi in Amsterdam. Among the numerous works and treatises he wrote on various Jewish subjects ranging from a Spanish translation of the Mishna, and a work on the cherubim ("Tratado de los Cherubim", 1653), he garnered the most notoriety for a famous model he built, reconstructing the Temple of Solomon, which became the source of his nickname.

Alternate titles: Qodes hillulim, Kedosh hilulim, Qedosh hilulim
Hebrew title: קדש הלולים

References: Vinograd, Amsterdam 393. Fuks, Amsterdam 628. Kayserling 58. Palau 135638.

Price: $1,500.00