(RaDa”K). Sepher ha-Shorashim [“Book of Roots;” Biblical lexicon and grammar]

AUCTION 34 | Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 1:00

Exemplary Hebrew Books: The Library of Joseph Gradenwitz, Esq.

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Lot 92

KIMCHI, DAVID

(RaDa”K). Sepher ha-Shorashim [“Book of Roots;” Biblical lexicon and grammar]

Printed in two columns. Title within woodcut architectural arch. Hebrew words occasionally provided with nikud (vowel points). Sidebars contain Latin equivalents. Initial words within woodcut design. On title, former owner’s inscription in an Italian hand in Hebrew and Latin. An anti-Christological remark by Kimchi has been lightly deleted by the censor in column 361 f. (1), 5-548 columns, f.(1). Slightly stained, lower margin of final leaf repaired. Later calf, rubbed. Folio Vinograd, Venice 330; Habermann, Adelkind 44; Adams K-46

Venice: Marco Antonio Giustiniani 1546

Est: $400 - $600

PRICE REALIZED $850

Unusually, this edition of Kimchi’s fundamental lexicographical work explicitly uses the word “Notzrim” and other references. Under the entry “elem” (column 361), the author, quoting his father R. Joseph Kimchi, derides the Christian assertion that the word “almah” (a young girl) found in Isaiah Chap 7:14 refers to a virgin birth. Remarkably, the passage has survived intact, and although lightly efaced, is eminently readable in the present copy. In other copies consulted, the offending lines were struck out vehemently by the ever-watchful and aggresive censor