Mashal HaKadmoni [collected fables] * WITH: Sepher HaTapu’ach [philosophy, attributed to Aristotle].

Estimate

$1,000–$1,500

Hammer price

$850

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

ISAAC IBN SAHULA.

printer

Professor Elsner

Place

Frankfurt a.d. Oder

Publication

1800

Description

Contains more than 70 imaginative and fanciful half-page woodcut illustrations. Two titles within typographic borders.

references

Vinograd, Frankfurt o/Oder 471.

summary

The Jewish Aesop’s Fables. A most distinctive Hebrew book. A collection of fables and puns with moral inferences all written in rhymed prose. The author uses animal fables as a means of moral allegory. Not only do the animals converse, but all are well-versed in the Bible and Talmud and conduct lengthy discourses on matters of science and philosophy. The remarkable illustrations are of a specifically Jewish origin. “The illustrated Hebrew book par excellence.” A.J. Karp. From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (1991) p. 125.

ff. 100. Lightly foxed, margin of one leaf taped, stamp removed from opening title. Modern calf. 8vo.

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