Chovoth HaLevavoth [“Duties of the Heart:” Ethics]. Translated from Arabic by Judah ibn Tibbon. Edited by Solomon Tzarphathi ben Peretz

BachIa ben Joseph ibn Pakuda

Joseph ben Jacob Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser

Naples

1489

FIRST EDITION. Wide-margined copy. On final page, notes in Rashi script in an early hand. Replete with marginalia in many hands

Vinograd, Naples 9; Goff 7; Goldstein 55; Offenberg 9; Steinschneider, p. 780, no. 4526, 1; Thes. A63; Wineman Cat. 36. Not in Cambridge University

Despite few faults, a fine WIDE-MARGINED EDITIO PRINCEPS OF BACHIA'S CLASSIC OF ETHICS. Unfortunately, scant details are known concerning the author Bachia ibn Pakuda, other than the fact that he was a Dayan in Spain. There is considerable latitude when it comes to his dates (roughly the second half of the eleventh century). Entitled Kitab al-Hidaya ila Fara'id al-Qulub in the Arabic original, Chovoth HaLevavoth was translated into Hebrew in 1161 by Judah ibn Tibbon. Throughout the ages, the book enjoyed wide popularity in a variety of circles, although in later centuries Eastern European Jews would shy away from the introductory Sha'ar HaYichud, which is of a decidedly philosophical nature, and focus instead on the remainder of the work, with its ethical guidance. "A veritable treasury of devotion, the book also contains many gems of thought and beautiful sayings culled from Arabic literature.' J. Bloch, Hebrew Printing in Naples