AMSTERDAM - PORTUGUESE JEWS - Lot 4

AMSTERDAM - PORTUGUESE JEWS Michlol Yofi - Perfectio Pulchritudinis, by Salomon ben Melekh, followed by Leket Shikhah - Spicilegium, by Jacob Abendana, Amsterdam, chez David Castro Tartas,1684, in-4 [4], 220 p. Ep. binding in reused material: vellum spine (16th-century charter) and boards covered with typographed leaves. Minor marginal worm work, otherwise a very fine copy. Grammatical commentary on the Bible by R. Solomon ibn Melekh (16th century), with the Lekket Shikhah commentary by R. Jacob ben Joseph Abendana (1630-1685). First published in Constantinople, the Mikhlol Yofi followed those of Constantinople (1549) and Amsterdam (1660-1661). Abendana was probably born in Spain into a Marrano family, which he left at an early age for Hamburg, before settling in Amsterdam, where he held a prominent position in the Jewish community. In 1681, he became Doctor of the Law in the Sephardite synagogue in London. He was also a physician. Abendana's brother Isaac was Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University and prepared a Latin translation of the Mishna that has not yet been published. In this volume, Jacob Abendana's text is preceded by a preface by Isaac. This is the first Hebrew book written by a Jew to include endorsements in Latin by Christian scholars, with the aim of attracting subscribers among Christian Hebraists. There is a title page in Latin and approvals in Latin, the first by Johannes Buxtorf, the second by four Leiden professors. The volume was published by David de Castro Tartas, a Portuguese-Jewish printer from Amsterdam. David was one of three sons of Portuguese "New Christians" who had escaped from Bragança and settled in the Gascon town of Tartas. In 1640, they emigrated to Amsterdam to live freely as Jews, while retaining the name "Tartas". David de Castro Tartas started out as a typographer in Menasseh Ben Israël's printing shop (Zedner 729; Vinograd, Amsterdam 508).