(RaDa”K). Sepher ha-Shorashim [“Book of Roots;” Biblical lexicon and grammar]

KIMCHI, DAVID

Marco Antonio Giustiniani

Venice

1546

Printed in two columns. Title within woodcut architectural arch. Hebrew words occasionally provided with nikud (vowel points). Sidebars contain Latin equivalents. Initial words within woodcut design. On title, former owner’s inscription in an Italian hand in Hebrew and Latin. An anti-Christological remark by Kimchi has been lightly deleted by the censor in column 361

Vinograd, Venice 330; Habermann, Adelkind 44; Adams K-46

Unusually, this edition of Kimchi’s fundamental lexicographical work explicitly uses the word “Notzrim” and other references. Under the entry “elem” (column 361), the author, quoting his father R. Joseph Kimchi, derides the Christian assertion that the word “almah” (a young girl) found in Isaiah Chap 7:14 refers to a virgin birth. Remarkably, the passage has survived intact, and although lightly efaced, is eminently readable in the present copy. In other copies consulted, the offending lines were struck out vehemently by the ever-watchful and aggresive censor