Berachiah ben Natronai HaNakdan (Benedictus le Puncteur). Mishlei Shu’alim [“Fox Fables,” Hebrew version of Aesop’s Fables]

AUCTION 63 | Thursday, November 13th, 2014 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic and Ceremonial Art

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Lot 85

(FABLES).

Berachiah ben Natronai HaNakdan (Benedictus le Puncteur). Mishlei Shu’alim [“Fox Fables,” Hebrew version of Aesop’s Fables]

<<FIRST EDITION.>> Title within architectural arch. With rare final leaf containing printer’s mark. ff. 87 (1). Mispaginated in places. Previous owner’s signature on title, opening three leaves starting, tear on lower portion of f. 60 affecting few letters, some staining. Contemporary tooled calf, worn, lower edge of front cover taped, gutter split. 12mo. Vinograd, Mantua 44; Mehlman 1261.

Mantua: Joseph ben Jacob of Padua 1557

Est: $2,000 - $3,000

Collection of fables synthesizing the European Aesopian tradition with animals who converse in a Biblical Hebrew comfortably interspersing their conversations with Talmudic aphorisms. Final three pages contain a description of the game of chess written in an elegant rhymed prose by Bonsenior ibn Yachya. For a brief discussion of the author and summary of the text, see M. Steinschneider, Schach bei den Juden (1873) pp. 86-7; and V. Keats, Chess, Jews and History (1995) pp. 182-85 (illustrated).