Atereth Zekenim ["Crown of the Elders": philosophy]. Appended short essay by Abrabanel: "Tzuroth HaYesodoth” [medieval science]

AUCTION 79 | Thursday, November 15th, 2018 at 1:00 PM
The Valmadonna Trust Library: Further Selections from the Historic Collection. * Hebrew Printing in America. * Graphic & Ceremonial Art

Back to Catalogue View 3D Catalogue Download Catalogue

Lot 2
ABRABANEL, ISAAC.

Atereth Zekenim ["Crown of the Elders": philosophy]. Appended short essay by Abrabanel: "Tzuroth HaYesodoth” [medieval science]

FIRST EDITION. Title within wreathed architectural columns with warriors standing at base; on f. 40v. printer’s device (Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks pp. 20-1). Few words censored. ff.40, (4). Bound in Valmadonna-custom mahogany blind-tooled calf, spine in compartments and titled in gilt. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Sabbioneta 44.

Sabbioneta: Tobias Foa 1557

Est: $2,000 - $2,500
PRICE REALIZED $2,600
The departure point for this slim tract is the passage in Exodus 24:9-11 which treats of the mystical vision of the Seventy Elders of Israel. Maimonides contends - as did the Midrash - that the apprehension of these Elders was improper, and that they eventually received their just punishment at Taberah (see Guide of the Perplexed I, 5). Don Isaac Abrabanel takes umbrage, writing this tract in defense of the Elders - hence the title "Crown of the Elders." See discussions in M. Kellner, Science in the Bet Midrash: Studies in Maimonides (2009), pp. 202-3; 313, n. 82; S. Regev, "The Vision of the Nobles of Israel in the Jewish Philosophy of the Middle Ages," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 4 (1984-85) pp. 281-302.