Historia Judaica [Latin translation of Solomon ibn Verga’s historiography, “Shevet Yehudah”]
AUCTION 49 |
Wednesday, October 27th,
2010 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters and Graphic Art
Lot 124
GENTIUS, GEORGIUS
Historia Judaica [Latin translation of Solomon ibn Verga’s historiography, “Shevet Yehudah”]
Amsterdam: Petrus Niellius 1651
Est: $600 - $900
PRICE REALIZED $550
Christian Hebraist George Gentze (1618-1687), a pupil of Menasseh ben Israel, was entrusted with the task of completing the translation of ibn Verga's history Shevet Yehudah that Menasseh himself had begun. Besides enjoying the confidence of the great Dutch rabbi, Gentius was also held in high esteem by R. Isaac Aboab and Moses Aguilar. See Aaron L. Katchen, Christian Hebraists and Dutch Rabbis (1984), pp. 247-268
The Shevet Yehudah is a chronicle of Jewish persecution from the destruction of the Second Temple until the Author’s own day, “(it is) one of the outstanding achievements of the Hebrew literature of the Renaissance.” (EJ, Vol. VIII col.1204)