(Antoine Rodolphe Chevalier). (Bible, Hebrew). Three Biblical books bound in one volume. All with extensive autographed marginalia densely written by Chevalier

(FRENCH-JUDAICA)

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Paris

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Isaiah. Robert Estienne, 1539. ff.124 [Lyse Schwarzfuchs, Le Livre Hebreu a Paris au XVI Sciecle, no. 86; St. Cat. Bodl. no. 19, 99]. First edition from Estienne’s quarto Hebrew Bible; his first project after being appointed Royal printer. BOUND WITH: Joel. Charles Estienne, 1557. With the commentary of David Kimchi. ff.20. [Schwarzfuchs, no. 248; not listed by Steinschneider]. AND: Ruth. Martin Juvenis, 1559. (ff.6). [Schwarzfuchs, no. 257 recording only two copies; Steinschneider, Bibliographisches Handbuch, 29/156]

Antoine Rodolphe Chevalier (1507-1572), a prominent French Hebraist, was most prolific. Extensive manuscript annotations from his hand appear in the volumes above, and are bound with six additional leaves of his manuscript notes. A later note on the verso of the title attributes the notes to Chevalier, and his authorship is confirmed by a comparison with his manuscript notes in a copy of Paginius in the Cambridge University Library. The Dictionary of National Biography notes that Chevalier “intended to publish an edition of the Bible in four languages, but did not finish it, and nothing is now known of it.” Probably the annotations in the volumes presently offered, were made in preparation for this ambitious endeavor