Ma’aseh Tuviah.

AUCTION 46 | Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, & Graphic Art

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Lot 86

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. Two divisional titles. The YIVO copy. With signature on title of Ben Zion the son of R. Yaakov Ettlinger (author of Aruch Laner), other inscriptions in Hebrew and German include: Zacharias Oppenheimer; Salamon Maimon Tobias and Elazar Levi ben HaRav HaGaon R. Zanvil Segal - stating the book was gifted to him by one Madam Adel (dated 1765, Neckarsulm, Germany). A handsome wide-margined copy. ff. (6),158. Light wear, slight repair on lower margin of title. Renaissance/Spring binding. Large 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: $3,000 - $5,000

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 contains an important section on the theological and social consequences of the Sabbatian debacle of the false Messiah Shabbethai Tzvi (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. 692-93.