Ma’aseh Tuviah

AUCTION 41 | Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, & Graphic Art

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Lot 97

COHN, TOBIAS.

Ma’aseh Tuviah

FIRST EDITION. Three parts in one. Title within architectural arch, on verso, fine engraved portrait of the Author by Antonio Luciani. Anatomical plate and numerous scientific text illustrations. Approbation from the Ecclesiastical Authorities on final page. On title, former owner's Hebrew signature: "Gabriel Pereira" ff.(6),158. Wormholes in title professionally filled. Several leaves repaired and laid to size. Burn marks along lower margin. Recent marbled boards. 4to Vinograd, Venice 1572; Garrison & Morton, Medical Bibliography 6496.1; Friedenwald, The Jews and Medicine - Catalogue (1946), pp. 59-60; Rubens 693

Venice: Bragadin 1707-1708

Est: $4,000 - $5,000

PRICE REALIZED $3,800

Celebrated encyclopedia of medical and natural sciences, comprising sections on geography and astronomy; theology and metaphysics, as well as a lexicon of pharmacological and botanical terms in Hebrew, Latin and Turkish; and most significantly, an important section on medicine (including anatomy and gynecology). Includes discussions on the medical properties of tobacco, description of the "plica polonica" (Latin for "Polish plait," a hair disease) and an examination of the Magdeburg experiment on the vacuum. Also discusses the future Redemption and the theological and social consequences of the Sabbatian debacle (see ff. 24-29). The Author, Tobias Cohn (1652-1729) was born in Metz, France, and raised by relatives in Cracow, Poland, after his father's untimely death. He studied medicine in Italy at the University of Padua and went on to serve as a Court physician in Turkey. See EJ, Vol. V, cols. 692-693