Akeidath Yitzchak [philosophical and allegorical homilies to the Pentateuch and Five Megilloth].

Auction 92 | Thursday, February 18th, 2021 at 1:00pm

Fine Judaica: Rare Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters & Graphic Arts

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Lot 192

ARAMA, ISAAC.

Akeidath Yitzchak [philosophical and allegorical homilies to the Pentateuch and Five Megilloth].

<<First Edition>> with commentary to the Five Scrolls. Title within woodcut architectural arch. First words of Genesis and Exodus in white within arabesques. The Elkan Nathan Adler copy, with his book-plate. Also with 19th-century signature of R. Mordechai Eliezer Ya’akov Tanuri. ff. 308 (i.e. 302), 12. Stained, small hole on title-page. Later vellum, recased. Folio. Vinograd, Venice 587.

Venice: Giovanni di Gara 1573

Est: $700 - $900

PRICE REALIZED $650

Affectionately known as the “Ba’al Akeidah,” Isaac Arama’s work has been consistently quoted and utilized down to the present day. The author’s great popularity stems from his stylistic combination of the Aschkenazic moralizing style with the philosophic tendency popular among Spanish and Provencal Jews. The title of the work, “Binding of Isaac,” refers to the successful binding and connecting of the two forms of homiletics: “Derishah” and “Perishah.” See I. Rivkind, Kiryat Sepher, vol. II p. 60. The commentary to the Book of Esther is actually the work of R. Isaac Arama’s son, R. Meir Arama.