MOSHE BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES.

AUCTION 21 | Thursday, December 04th, 2003 at 1:00

Kestenbaum & Company Holds Inaugural Auction of Hebrew Printed Books & Manuscripts at Their New Galleries

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Lot 184

MOSHE BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES.

RaMBa”M). Constitutiones de Fundamentis Legis (Hilkhoth Yesodei ha-Torah). pp. (8),148 Guglielmus Vorstius (Willem Hendrik Voorst) translator. * Bound together with: Abrabanel, Isaac. De Capite Fidei (Rosh Amanah). pp. 118, (10). (Amsterdam: 1638). * AND: Gans, David. Germen Davidis (Zemach David). pp. (8), 314, (18). (Leiden, 1644). * AND: Capitula R. Elieser (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer). pp. (8), 254, (16). (Leiden, 1644) Some minor staining. Otherwise excellent condition. Modern binding. 4to Vinograd, Amsterdam 43; Fuks, 200; Aaron L. Katchen, Christian Hebraists and Dutch Rabbis (Cambridge, MA, 1984), pp. 235-247

Amsterdam: G. & J. Blaeu 1638

Est: $1,000 - $1,500

The Latin translations of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah and Isaac Abravanel’s Rosh Amanah were issued simultaneously in Amsterdam in 1638. The Latin translations of David Ganz’s Zemah David and Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer were brought out together in Leiden in 1644. All four works were translated by the same Christian Hebraist, Willem Voorst (Guglielmus Vorstius). Aaron Katchen has analyzed Vorstius’ translations of the four works in great detail. Katchen’s conclusion is that Voorst’s agenda was quite clearcut: to promote the Christian faith through the sources of Judaism. If in fact Vorstius was a pupil of Menasseh ben Israel, then the Dutch rabbi’s hopes were squandered on his former student. Fuks writes: “As we have not been able to see copies of the work, we cannot give the description of the contents nor the enumeration of the types which have been used.” According to Vinograd, JNUL does not possess a copy.