Mishlei Shu’alim [“Fox Fables”]

Estimate: $4,000–$5,000
Hammer price: Not recorded

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

BERACHIAH BEN NATRONAI HANAKDAN [i.e. Benedictus le Puncteur(?)]

printer

Joseph ben Jacob of Padua

Place

Mantua

Publication

1557

Description

FIRST EDITION. Title within architectural arch

references

Not in Adams; Vinograd, Mantua 44; Mehlman 1261

summary

Collection of fables synthesizing the European Aesopian tradition with animals who converse in a Biblical Hebrew interspersed with Talmudic quotations. Final 3 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)

ff.87(1). Title neatly repaired, lower portion of final leaf removed without affecting printer’s device, modern calf, 12mo

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