Auction 26 · Lot 43

(Rada”k). Sepher ha-Shorashim [“Book of Roots”: Biblical Lexicon]

Estimate: $20,000–$25,000
Hammer price: Not recorded

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

author

KIMCHI, DAVID BEN JOSEPH

printer

Joshua Solomon ben Israel Nathan Soncino

Place

Naples

Publication

1491

Description

Third edition. Double columns. Square Hebrew type

references

Vinograd, Naples 19; Goff 40; Goldstein 45; Offenberg 106; Steinschneider, p. 873, no. 4821-44; Thesaurus A69; Wineman 43. Not in Cambridge University

summary

No other Hebrew lexicographical work influenced Christian Hebraists in their studies of the sacred tongue as did Kimchi's Sepher ha-Shorashim. To name but a few, Johannes Reuchlin, Sebastian Münster, and Sanctus Paganini acknowledged their debt to Kimchi. The popularity of the Sepher ha-Shorashim is attested to the fact that this third edition was printed not six months following the second edition (see Lot 39). The Wineman Collection contains the first three editions of the Sepher ha-Shorashim (see also Lots 1 and 39). By this time, Joshua Soncino had been expelled from the town of Soncino and settled in Naples were he competed directly with the printing establishment of the Gunzenhausers

ff. 166 (of 168). Opening and closing leaf provided in facsimile, f.3 with loss, few leaves with marginal repairs affecting some text, stained. Modern calf, gilt, a.e.g. Slip-case. Folio

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