Hebrew). Biblia Sacra Hebraea

(BIBLE,.

Joseph Athias

Amsterdam

1659-61

FIRST EDITION. Title and Preface in Latin. Three divisional titles with printer's mark of Joseph Athias (see Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks, 73). Ruled throughout in red. Square Hebrew characters with nikud (vowel points) and te'amim (trope or cantillation). Headpieces and tailpieces

Vinograd, Amsterdam 262; Fuks, Amsterdam 378; Darlow & Moule 5131

“The first Hebrew Bible with Arabic numeration of chapters and verses.” (Fuks). This edition became the standard for generations. It contains a lengthy Preface by Johannes Leusden, Professor of the Sacred Tongue at Utrecht, as well as a Commendation by three Professors of Theology at the University of Utrecht including Gisbertus Voetius. Both Leusden and Voetius were Christian Hebraists, with the crucial difference that Leusden was a philo-Semite and Voetius a rabid anti-Semite. See A.L. Katchen, Christian Hebraists and Dutch Rabbis (1984), pp. 104-5; 147-8; 310, n. 25