The History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life of the Present Jews throughout the World
AUCTION 57 |
Thursday, January 31st,
2013 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 175
MODENA, LEON.
The History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life of the Present Jews throughout the World
London: J.L. 1650
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
PRICE REALIZED $1,800
First published in Italian under the title Historia de gli riti Hebraici (Paris, 1637) at the request of Sir Henry Wotton, English Ambassador to Venice, for presentation to King James I, this work is the first publication written by a Jew in modern times, outlining the practices of Judaism for a Gentile readership.
See C. Roth, “Leon da Modena and His English Correspondents,” TJHSE, Vol. 17 (1951-1952), pp. 40-41; C. Roth, “Leone da Modena and England” in: Studies in Books and Booklore (1972) pp. 203-4; M.R. Cohen, The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi: Leon Modena’s Life of Judah (1988), p. 256, n.1; Dorit Raines, “Judaism in the Eyes of the Venetian Patriciate in the Time of Leon Modena” (Hebrew) in D. Malkiel (Ed.), The Lion Shall Roar: Leon Modena and His World (2003) pp. 19-20.