Tzeror HaChaim. De Termino Vitae

Estimate

$700–$1,000

Hammer price

Not recorded

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

author

MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL.

printer

By the Author

Place

Amsterdam

Publication

1639

Description

Title within architectural columns

references

J.H. Coppenhagen, Menasseh Ben Israel: A Bibliography(1990), 211; Silva Rosa 35

summary

A discussion instigated by the Dutch intellectual Jan van Beverwyck in his work Epistolica Quaestio de Vitae Termino, (Dordrecht, 1634), questioning whether death is brought on by natural causes or is Divinely ordained. Menasseh's response, based on Jewish sources, argues that the span of life is not predetermined by the Deity but depends on constitutional, temperamental, and climatic influences. The book concludes with a panegyric in honor of Menasseh by Jacob Rosales of Hamburg. "Of all Menasseh’s Latin works, this was the most successful” (C. Roth, A Life of Menasseh ben Israel [1945], p. 95)

pp.(16), 237, (1 blank), (50). Title marginally repaired, hole in title text unaffected, verso of title stamped. Modern boards, spine starting. 12mo

Enquire about this lot