Tiberias sive Commentarius Masoreticus
Basel: Ludovici König, 1620. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. [12] 324pp. Vellum binding, with remnants of paper labels and black manuscript lettering on the spine. Decorative woodcut printer's device on the title page, as well as a large woodcut initial and decorative headpiece on the first paginated leaf. Intended as the supplement to his famous Biblia Rabbinica, this scholarly commentary by renowned Christian Hebraist Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629), discusses the history and evolution of the Masorah (codified vowels and vocalization of the Hebrew text). The book was controversial in that it contravened the theory of the later emergence of the Masorah as espoused by the earlier Hebrew scholar Elia Levita (1469-1549). Buxtorf's work was enlarged and expanded upon by his son Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, in a subsequent edition printed in 1665.
Text throughout in Latin with some Hebrew.
Binding with with some light rubbing and bumping to corners, as well as some light staining to the covers. Interior with some tearing, waters stains, and period ink notes to the interior covers and endpapers. Text throughout faintly water stained and rippled for the bottom half of the book block. Starting at few points throughout the text. Tearing to the title page and the following leaf, with some tearing to the bottom right corner, with no loss of text. Ex-library copy with with some period ink markings and library ink stamps on the title page and rear free endpaper* Book block still fairly tight. Binding in good+ interior in good condition overall. g to g+. Item #47728
* The title page bears the historical ink stamp of the "Bibliothèque Publique de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Bordeaux" (Public Library of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Bordeaux), which contains an image of a crescent moon, in reference the harbor of Bordeaux ("Harbor of the Moon"). The institution is now known as The National Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Bordeaux.
Price: $500.00