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De cultu divino, ex R. Mosis Majemonidae Secunda lege, seu Manu Forti liber VIII. (On the Divine Cult, from the Book Eight of the Mishneh Torah, or Yad ha-Hazakah of Rabbi Moses Maimonides) [WITH NOTABLE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ANNOTATIONS]

Maimonides, Moses; Louis Compiegne de Veil (trans.)

Paris: G. Caillou, 1678. First edition. Hardcover. Quarto. [16], 384pp; 3 unnumbered double-suite engraved plates, with legends in the margins. Engraved printer's device at title. Woodcut head- and tailpieces, lettrines. Text in Latin, with some key terms in Hebrew; printed marginalia. Contemporary calf (rubbed and lightly worn at extremities); spine with raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments, old manuscript title on paper in upper compartment. Text lightly toned throughout, else clean and crisp. A good or better copy.

Collation: a[tilde]6, e[tilde]2 (e2 signed e3), A-3B4 (= 200 leaves)

First edition of this Latin version of Sefer Avodah (The Book of Divine Service), being the eighth book of the Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides' systemic treatment of Talmudic and post-Talmudic Jewish law (halakhah). The nine chapters of Sefer Avodah comprise a legal digest of Israelite cult practices at the Jerusalem Temple: The Chosen Temple; Vessels of the Sanctuary and Those Who Serve Therein; Admission into the Sanctuary; Things Forbidden on the Altar; Sacrificial Procedure; Daily Offerings and Additional Offerings; Sacrifices Rendered Unfit; Service on the Day of Atonement; Trespass. "[W]hereas Christian interest in Maimonides' thought was focused on his philosophic work, the Guide of the Perplexed, during the Middle Ages -- the so-called Age of Faith -- this interest shifted during the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment to his Halakic work, the Mishneh Torah. It was through the Mishneh Torah that Christian thinkers and theologians viewed normative Judaism" (Dienstag).

Born Daniel de Weil in the Jewish quarter of Metz, Louis-Compiègne de Veil (d. c.1710) was the son of the town's rabbi, David Weil (d. 1645) and a descendant of the Nürnberg rabbi, Jacob Weil. Both he and his brother, Charles Marie de Veil, converted to Catholicism under the influence of the new Catholic archdeacon, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, who arrived at Metz in 1652. The archdeacon "shared in the current apocalyptic excitement of both Christians and Jewish cabbalists and the conviction of the former of an imminent large-scale conversion of the Jews" (ODNB). He was sponsored at his baptism by Louis XIV, as reflected in his new Christian name, and went on to study theology at the Sorbonne. Both Louis and his brother subsequently converted to Calvinism and immigrated to England. "Designated sub-keeper of the Royal Library in 1678, [de Veil] was licensed ‘ad docendum litteras in et per totam urbem Londinensem' in 1685" (Massil). As noted by Dienstag, de Veil "devoted himself to the interpretation of Maimonides' code Mishneh Torah."

The present work was dedicated to the son of Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the churchman Jacques Nicolas Colbert (1655-1707), who later become Archbishop of Rouen in 1691, and was one of the first members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Provenance and annotations: With the 19th-century bookplate of "Mr. F. Theremin Ministre du S. Evangile" at the front paste-down, and his stamp at the bottom margin of the title-page. The opening blank end-leaf contains detailed bibliographical lists in French. The first notes thirteen authors and their works which discuss de Veil, including Richard Simon, Pierre Daniel Huet, and Job Ludolf; the second notes seven bibliographies which include the present work, followed by a list of later printings. Good+. Item #52858

References: J. I. Dienstag, "Christian Translators of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah into Latin," [in:] Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume (NY: Columbia Univ., 1974), pp.288; 303, no. 4; S.W. Massil, “Immigrant Librarians to Britain: Huguenots and Some Others,” 69th IFLA General Conference and Council and Council, 1-9 August 2003, Berlin; S. Wright, "Charles Marie de Veil" [in:] ODNB.

Full title and imprint: De cultu divino, ex R. Mosis Majemonidae Secunda lege, seu Manu forti liber VIII. Dividitur in IX. tractatus, quorum seriem pagina è regione Elenchi posita declarabit. Accesserunt tabulae aere incisae, in quibus exprimitur Hierosolymitanti templi forma accuratissimè, & eleganter descripta. Hunc librum ex hebraeo latinum fecit, & notis illustravit Ludovicus de Compiegne de Veïl, D.A. Parisiis, apud Guidonem Caillou, Bibliopolam, viâ Jocabaeâ, sub Constantia. M.DC.LXXVIII.

Price: $1,250.00