(Moses ben Gershon Gentili). Malecheth Machsheveth [novellae to the Pentateuch based upon the Natural Sciences]

AUCTION 19 | Tuesday, March 11th, 2003 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts and Works of Graphic Art

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Lot 67

CHEFETZ, MOSES

(Moses ben Gershon Gentili). Malecheth Machsheveth [novellae to the Pentateuch based upon the Natural Sciences]

FIRST EDITION. Additional engraved title by Gissepi Valerani depicting Moses bringing forth water from the rock. Engraved frontispiece portrait of the Author (see Rubens 676). Further leaf of astronomical and mathematical diagrams. An attractive wide-margined copy ff. (11), 98. Gently damp wrinkled in places. Recent half-calf chestnut boards. Folio Vinograd, Venice 1591; Mehlman 649

Venice: Bragadin 1710

Est: $1,500 - $2,000

PRICE REALIZED $2,100

The author, a child prodigy, developed into a fine Rabbinic decisor as well as a scholar familiar with the disciplines of mathematics and the sciences. The engraved frontispiece portrait depicts the author without a head covering as was the custom among the Italian Rabbis. Interestingly, the author’s portrait in the second edition (Koenigsberg, 1814), was altered to include a head-covering, gray hair and the Hebrew title “The Sage” (Ha’gaon), seemingly more becoming of a Rabbi. The portrait in the present edition is often lacking