(Moses ben Gershon Gentili). Chanukath Ha’bayith [treatise on the building of the Second Temple]

CHEFETZ, MOSES.

Bragadin

Venice

1696

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut decorative oval cartouche. Numerous engraved illustrations of the Temple. ADDITIONAL FOLD-OUT MAP OF THE TEMPLE IDENTIFYING FIFTY-EIGHT COMPONENTS OF THE TEMPLE’S STRUCTURE. Map unrecorded by Vinograd

Vinograd, Venice 1483

Moses Chefetz was a child prodigy. He developed into a fine Rabbinic decisor as well as a scholar familiar with the disciplines of mathematics and the sciences. Studies concerning the Temple in Jerusalem demand visual presentation, for the architecture and the Temple vessels are so very pertinant to the laws. The numerous engraved architectural illustrations and the fold-out map were added after the printing. A copy containing both is rare. See A.J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures from the Library of Congress (1991) p.88 (illustrated)