(BIBLE

AUCTION 30 |
Tuesday, September 20th,
2005 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Books and Manuscripts
Lot 78
(BIBLE
Amsterdam: Immanuel ben Joseph Athias 1679-87
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
PRICE REALIZED $950
The Best Translation of The old Testament into Judeo-German.
The first endeavor of its kind - a complete translation of the Bible into Judeo-German - carries with it a rather bitter commercial background: Joseph Athias and his son Immanuel, the most highly regarded Hebrew printers in Amsterdam, faced, from the outset of their enterprise, strong competition from the energetic and skilled printing house of Uri Phoebus Halevi. This rivalry reached its zenith when in 1678 Uri Phoebus issued the first Bible translation (accomplished by Yekuthiel b. Isaac Blitz) into Judeo-German (See next Lot); whereupon Athias employed Joseph ben Alexander Witzenhausen to produce a rival- and ultimately a more notable, edition. Although both printers set about their undertakings with equal altruism, the resulting litigation each used to rid himself of his rival caused the financial ruin of them both. See: Fuks, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands pp. 237-40 and 296-98; A.K. Offenberg, Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana-Treasures of Jewish Booklore (1994) pp.46-47 (illustrated)