Tzemach Tzadik [fables]

MODENA, JUDAH ARYEH (LEONE) DA

Daniel Zanetti

Venice

1600

FIRST EDITION. Title within decorative typographical border. Numerous woodcut text illustration.

Vinograd, Venice 910.

A RARE HEBREW ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF FABLES. Although the Tzemach Tzadik is based upon the Italian ethical work “Fior di Virtu,” the author here broadened and molded it into a distinctive, first-class Jewish ethical treatise. He quotes liberally from the Bible, Talmud and later sources, which often serves to bolster the thoughts of Diogenes, Aristotle and other secular scholars presented. The illustrations in this work deserve particular study. Each image illuminates the particular concept discussed in the text adjacent. For example: The author discusses the nature of foolishness (“Kesiluth”) by depicting a bull whose rage resulted in its’ horns to be imbedded in a tree and thus easy prey for the hunter alongside. The section on faintheartedness or cowardice (“Morech”) shows two “scared rabbits” fleeing from a wind-blown leaf. Although published anonymously, Steinschneider (Cat. Bodl. col. 1354, no.34) detected the work was by Leone da Modena, noting the initials letters beginning chapter 1 (p. 4) form the acrostic “Yehuda Aryeh Me’Modena.” Steinschneider designates the work “opusculum inter omnia rarissimum.” One of a mere handful of Hebrew books with illustrations printed in the first century-and-a-half of Hebrew printing.