Auction 98 · Lot 154

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

Estimate: $1,200–$1,800
Hammer price: $950

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

author

(FABLES).

printer

Professor Elsner

Place

Frankfurt o/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 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. A most distinctive Hebrew book.

ff. 72, 81-100 (i.e., 98). Mispaginated (as are all copies) though complete. Browned and lightly worn, few tears, loss of text on f.82. Later boards. 8vo.

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