Modon, Simcha Cohen. Kol Musar

(POETRY).

Raphael Haim D’Italia

Mantua

1725

Title in woodcut border. Extensive use of headpieces and other decorative elements. Large typeface. Corrections to text on pages 14a, 17a, 27b, perhaps in the author’s own hand. On 31a, a “wheel of fortune” of various human characteristics.

Vinograd, Mantua 330

Poetry. Appreciations by David Finzi, father-in-law of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (RaMHaL), and Dr. Kalonymos D’Italia. Cecil Roth gives high marks to the poetic achievement of Modon, “renewer of the Hebrew sonnet, who won golden opinions when he was sent on a congratulatory mission to the Emperor Charles VI.” C. Roth,The History of the Jews of Italy (Philadelphia, 1946), p. 400. Our volume contains fifty sonnets (poems of fourteen lines). Many of the poems are based on motifs found in Talmud and rabbinic literature throughout the ages. Those interested in the history of printing will appreciate sonnet 46, “On the Three Types of Writing.” The poet sings the virtues of paper, vellum, and rag.