Philologus hebraeus [BOUND WITH] Philologus hebraeo-graecus generalis [AND] Philologus hebraeo-mixtus [AND] Tractatus talmudicus... Pirke Abhoth [CONTAINING the EARLIEST COPPER-ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS of JEWISH LIFE in the NETHERLANDS]
Utrecht: [various], 1665. First edition. Hardcover. Sammelband of four works, issued between 1665 and 1682, small quarto. Contemporary vellum, tooled in blind, spine with raised bands and manuscript title. Light soiling to vellum. Mild toning at edges, a few old annotations, else a fine collection in a handsome Dutch binding.
A collection of philological and historical treatises, including two first editions, relating to both Old and New Testament criticism, by the Calvinist theologian Johann Leusden (1624-1699), likely bound together for a theology student. The third work in this collection, Philologus Hebraeo-Mixtus (1682), contains the earliest copper-engraved illustrations of contemporary Jewish life in the Netherlands (Gans): lighting the Chanukah lamp; celebrating Purim in costume; the huts of Sukkot; lighting the Sabbath lamp; marriage beneath the Chuppah; preparation for Passover; baking matzah; mourning on Tisha b'Av. Among the foremost biblical scholars of his time, Leusden was professor of Hebrew at Utrecht:
I. Philologus hebraeus continens quaestiones hebraicas, quae circa Vetus Testamentum hebraeum fere moveri solent. [...] Editio secunda auctior & emendatior, Utrecht: M. Dreunen, 1672. [24], 440pp., engraved title and portrait. Revised and augmented edition of the 1656 and 1567 editions, with completely new typesetting and a nice portrait added, but without the Hebrew-Latin translation of Maimonides’ list of the 613 commendments. Steinschneider, Bibl. Handbuch 1146.
II. Philologus hebraeo-graecus generalis, continens Quaestiones hebraeo-graecas, quae circa Novum Testamentum graecum fere moveri solent, Utrecht: F. Halma, 1670. [16], 220, [10, index] [1, colophon], [1, blank]pp. First edition. Studia Rosenthaliana 1:48.
III. Philologus hebraeo-mixtus, una cum spicilegio philologico, continente decem quaestionum & positionum praecipue Philologico-Hebraicarum & Judaicarum centurias. Editio secunda, emendata [et] Figuris aeneis ornata, Utrecht: François Halma, 1682. [16], 463, [9, index and errata], engraved title, 8 engraved plates with multiple images, with frontispiece by J. Avele and complete with all prints. Second improved edition (first ed. 1663) for which new frontispiece and copper-engravings were made. These are the “oldest known etchings of Jewish life in the Netherlands” (Gans). Rubens (first edition) 1083-1090. Steinschneider, Bibl. Handbuch 1147.
IV. Tractatus talmudicus... Pirke Abhoth sive capitula patrum una cum versione Hebraica duorum capitum Danielis, Utrecht: M. Dreunen, 1665. [8], 129, [3]pp. Reads as a Hebrew book, from right to left. First edition. Studia Rosenthaliana I:46. Nearly Fine. Item #49126
References: Gans, Memorbook: History of Dutch Jewry from the Renaissance to 1940, p. 80-81. See also Zwarts: De hebreeuwsche typografie van Utrecht, 1938. For a bibliography of Leusden’s works, describing the first editions, see Studia Rosenthaliana 1:42-49.
Price: $1,500.00