Abraham bar Hiya. Tzurat Ha’Aretz. Ashpira Hagadol (called Maroth Ha‘Ofanim). Sepher HaGalgal. Edited by Jonathan of Rozinai.

(ASTRONOMY)

Bonaventura de la Naye

Offenbach

1720

FIRST EDITON. Title within architectural arch featuring Moses and Aaron, with cherubs flanking a zodiac sphere. Numerous woodcut illustrations of spherical charts, mathematical, geometrical figures and astronomical illustrations.

Vinograd, Offenbach 44.

The author (d.1136) was a Spanish philosopher and mystic, considered the principal source of geographical knowledge among the Jews of the Middle Ages. “(Abraham bar Hiya) was the first philosopher to write in Hebrew and the first to present Ptolemaic astronomy extensively in that language. Accordingly, he made important contributions to the Hebrew philosophical and scientific lexicon” (B. Levy, Planets, Potions and Parchments: Scientifica Hebraica (1990) no. 23).