Yoseph ben Yissachar. Yosef Da’ath [super-commentary to Rashi on the Pentateuch].

AUCTION 75 | Thursday, March 08th, 2018 at 1:00 PM
Auction of Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Antiquities, Ceremonial Objects & Graphic Art

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Lot 191
(ISRAEL, LAND OF).

Yoseph ben Yissachar. Yosef Da’ath [super-commentary to Rashi on the Pentateuch].

<<FIRST EDITION>>. Title within typographical border. <<Map of the Land of Israel>> together with other woodcut plates and text-illustrations striving to clarify apparent errors in Rashi’s commentary with the use of early manuscript texts. ff.1-60, 65-152. Browned and stained, few outer leaves frayed, neat repairs. Later boards. Sm. 4to.

Prague:

Est: $2,000 - $3,000
PRICE REALIZED $2,500
This important map of the Land of Israel is based on Mordechai Jaffe’s earlier effort that appeared in his Levushim (1590-1604). Here however, R. Joseph’s map is more clearly defined: the mountains are easily visible and the cities are shown by towers and decorated with flags - an altogether sophisticated representation. The details of the map were entirely based on information derived from the Bible and its commentaries, for, as E. & G. Wajntraub point out in their Hebrew Maps of the Holy Land (1992) pp.42-3, “it was not possible to draw eye-witness reports, and all geographical data is based on geographical knowledge of the Bible (only).” See Z. Vilnay, Hamapah Ha’ivrit shel Eretz Yisrael (1968) p. 15 (illustrated).