Former Prophets (Nevi’im Rishonim). With Targum Jonathan and commentaries by David Kimchi (Rada”k) and Levi ben Gershom (Ralba”g or Gersonides). * Accompanied by: Two-leaf fragment of Joshua (15:42-63; 17:15-18) on vellum

(BIBLE)

Dom Samuel de Ortas and Sons

Leiria

1494

FIRST EDITION OF TARGUM JONATHAN AND GERSONIDES. Three volumes. Texts of Bible and Targum Jonathan with vocalization (nikud) and cantillation (te'amim or “trope”)

Vinograd, Leiria 6; Goff 23; Goldstein 99; Offenberg 28; Steinschneider, p. 4, no. 18; Thesaurus B27; Wineman Cat. 62a-b Not in Cambridge University; HUC: Judges and Samuel only.

One of the last Hebrew books printed before the Portuguese Exile of 1497. It is the most voluminous of all Hebrew incunables. With the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, neighboring Portugal took its place as the center of Hebrew printing in the Iberian peninsula. Thus the fortified town of Leiria, less than a hundred miles North-East of Lisbon, now became a source of Hebrew books. Between the years 1492-96, Samuel de Ortas, a native of Orthez, France, together with his three sons, produced a total of seven Hebrew titles. But de Ortas' most famous creation would be in Gothic letters. That would be the Latin version of the Spanish Jew Abraham Zacuto's astronomical table, Almanach Perpetuum, which it is said guided Christopher Columbus on his monumental voyage to America. See J. Bloch pp. 36-40; M. Terry, Jewes in America, New York Public Library (2004) p. 2, no. 3: (Abraham Zacuto, Almanach Perpetuum Celestium Motuum [Leiria: Abraham D'Ortas, 1496])