Biblia en dos Colunas - Hebrayco y Espanol

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

The Sons of Solomon Proops

Amsterdam

1762

Title in red and black, three divisional titles. Hebrew and Spanish texts in parallel columns, with publisher's preface in Spanish, editor's introduction in poetic Hebrew and tables of weekly Torah readings and Haphtoroth

Darlow & Moule 5156

FIRST EDITION OF THE BIBLE IN HEBREW AND SPANISH. Although the Bible was regularly printed in the Spanish language following the appearance of the great Ferrara Bible of 1553, the present edition heralds the first appearance of both Hebrew and Spanish texts in a single volume. (By comparison, Hebrew-Yiddish Bibles had been printed since the 16th century). It was one Abraham Mendes Castro to whom the publishers in the preface give credit for promoting, and indeed financing this Spanish-Hebrew Bible. Castro, a resident of Curacao, Dutch West Indies, was motivated by local need “...there were not enough copies of the Pentateuch in Hebrew and in Spanish for the pupils [in Curacao].” Moreover, “Castro had a special fondness for the Holy Land and the diffusion of the Bible.” (See I.S. and S.A. Emmanuel, The History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles (1970) pp. 251 and 1095). In 1760, Castro sent funds to Amsterdam from Curacao to have Proops print a two-column Spanish-Hebrew Bible. The profits accrued from sale were to be divided between the Jewish Communities of Jerusalem and of Hebron. The ultimate result, according to Cardozo de Bethencourt, was a production valued as “one of the most beautiful of Spanish Bibles.” (See AJHSP, Vol. XXIX Notes on Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1925) p.29). This, therefore, is the first Hebrew Book whose publication was financed by, and for the use of, the Jews of the American Continent