(RaDa”K). Sepher HaShorashim [“Book of Roots”: Biblical lexicon]

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

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Lot 77

KIMCHI, DAVID.

(RaDa”K). Sepher HaShorashim [“Book of Roots”: Biblical lexicon]

Second edition (first ed: Rome, c. 1469-72). Square Hebrew type, excepting names of biblical books and pericopes in rabbinic type. Previously <<the Salman Schocken copy>> (with his pencil bibliographic notations). Some marginalia. ff. 133 (of 144), ff. 1-2 provided in manuscript, f. 9 and final 8 leaves provided in facsimile.Trimmed, repaired worming with loss of few words. Unbound. Loose in Schocken folding-boards and matching slip-case. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Naples 12; Steinschneider, col. 873, no. 43; Thes. A-66; Goff Heb-39; Offenberg 105; BMC XIII, p. 62; Iakerson 53.

Naples: Azriel ben Joseph Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser 1490

Est: $12,000 - $18,000

PRICE REALIZED $9,000

R. David Kimchi (1160?-1235?), also known by the acronym RaDa”K, was the most prominent grammarian of the Hebrew language in the medieval period, surpassing all others in terms of clarity, comprehensiveness, and methodical presentation of the subject matter. Kimchi was born in Provence after his family fled the Almohad persecutions in Spain. Both his father and brother were accomplished grammarians in their own right and RaDa”K’s philological writings owe a great deal to their early influence. See Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library - Otzroth Ya’akov, Incunables no. 46.