Philosophical and Ethical Treatises [Spain: ca. 1370]

11 leaves (8 x 5 1/2 in.; 205 x 140 mm). Written in brown ink in a neat Sephardic semi-cursive Hebrew script on 14th century paper (see: Briquet 7937-44). Strengthened at gutter; some leaves remargined; marginal losses with paper repairs, affecting text only on first leaf. Lightly stained; original foliation in ink; owners' notes, ff. 1r, 8r, 11v. Modern navy buckram, titles gilt.

Avraham ben Halfon ha-Rofe- his signature, f. 8r; Shlomo Silvera-his signature, f. 1r.

newly discovered fourteenth century manuscript containing two unknown works

The text of the first work consists of a dialogue between the Sekhel (Intellect) and the Neshama (Soul ), the former serving as the teacher, and the latter, as the eager and perceptive disciple (ff. 1r-7v). According to Professor Tzvi Langermann of Bar Ilan University, this work seems to be of outstanding importance, and may represent the earliest meeting between Hebrew letters and Arabic science and philosophy.  The manuscript is lacking the first leaf and some material at the end. Langermann goes on to postulate that the dialogue is pre-Tibbonian in its terminology and diction—which differ from that of the Ibn Tibbons—as well as in its content, which is not all the Aristotelian philosophy whose dominance is due, to Samuel Ibn Tibbon's translation of Maimonides' Guide and his son Moshe's translations of Ibn Rushd. The author, suggests Langermann, "may have been a contemporary of Samuel's father, Judah; if not, then a contemporary of Samuel."

The second unit, is an ethical will. In the medieval period, many Jews were in the habit of writing wills, in Hebrew, in which they imparted instruction of an ethical and religious nature to their children and to their descendants. In this document, entitled "amar ha-haham ha-zaken el b'no (f.8r-11r), the anonymous father opens by admonishing his son, named Solomon: "I saw you entrenched in the temptations of this world … in your desire for longevity and authority. … and now my son, take these pearls of musar (ethical wisdom) which I write to you in this letter, and commit them to memory."  These wills are an invaluable resource to scholars of Jewish history, as they reflect both the moral and ethical views of individual Jews, as well as for the insight they provide, into the cultural and social life of the Jewish communities in which they were composed.

Sotheby's is grateful to Prof. Langermann for providing information which aided in the cataloging of this lot and his complete report is available upon request.