Levush Ha’orah [elucidations and novellea on Rashi’s commentary to the Pentateuch]

JAFFE, MORDECHAI.

Abraham ben Moses Sedil

Prague

1603

FIRST EDITION. Map Of The Land Of Israel (f. 84v). Printer’s device on verso of title.

Vinograd, Prague 123.

With a important woodcut map of the Land of Israel and surrounding nations, charting the travels of the Children of Israel. Decorative and clearly defined, the map depicts ships riding the seas with cities delineated by towers adorned with flags - an altogether sophisticated representation. The details of the map were entirely based on information derived from the Bible and its commentaries, for, as E. & G. Wajntraub point out in their Hebrew Maps of the Holy Land (1992) p. 41 “it was not possible to draw eye-witness reports, and all geographical data is based [only] on the geographical knowledge of the Bible.”