La Guerta de Oro [“The Golden Garden”]

ATHIAS, DAVID BEN MOSES

Vinccenzio Falorni

Livorno

1778

FIRST EDITION. Text in Judeo-Spanish (Ladino). Title within typographical border. Engraved plate with a chart prepared by the author to teach the Roman alphabet between ff.10-11

Vinograd, Livorno 149; not in Kayserling

From the prominant Sephardi family, originating in Spain, David Athias was born in Livorno, where he served for a time as Rabbi. In consequence of business travels to the East, he became proficient in many languages including Turkish, Serbian and Russian. La Guerta de Oro comprises proverbs, fables and sympathetic remedies together with a treatise on physiognomy and a guide to rapid mastery of Greek and Latin. Some what incongruously, the text of “Letters Patent of the French Kings in Favor of the Portuguese Jews” with a Judeo-Spanish translation is appended at the end. Steinschneider, in Hebraische Bibliographie, XVI, 114 relates that he located a single copy of this rare work in the King’s Library (?)