Vallensis, Joannes. Tov Ta'am / Opus de Prosodia Hebraeorum in quatuor libros divisum. Quorum primus accentuum… [“Work of Hebrew prosody, divided into four books, of which the first, accents…: study of the te'amim, cantillation marks or trope.”]

(MUSIC)

Jacob Bogard

Paris

1545

FIRST EDITION. Latin and Hebrew. On f. 3r. a Christological woodcut which has been partially illuminated. So too the floriated initial on f.1r. has been illuminated. ff.38-42, Hebrew printed in red type. On f. 42v., the cantillation marks are provided with Western musical notation. Wide-margined copy. From the Cassuto Collection

Freimann, p.86

Early notation of Pentateuch-cantillation, here produced utilizing a most attractive font. The work contains copious references to "Elias," i.e. the Hebrew grammarian Elijah Levita (1469-1549) who argued, on the basis of the Aramaic names of the various te'amim or cantillation marks, for their post-Sinaitic origin. He believed they were likely assigned by the Masoretes of Tiberias in the 8th-century