Four Rare and Important Grammatical Works bound in one volume including the only complete copy of Helek Dikduk, David ben Joseph Kimhi, Constantinople: Gershom ben Moses Soncino, 1530

8vo (7 5/8 x 5 5/8 in.; 194 x 142 mm). Four works bound together: Helek Dikduk: 1-5^{4, 66, 7-128, 136, 14-238, 2410=170 leaves. Woodcut title border and initial word panel; title mended in gutter margin affecting edge of border which has been renewed in pen, library stamp removed from title leaving hole in blank portion of central panel and remains of a paper label, marginal mends in first few leaves, some water-stains; censor's inscriptions (Laurentius Franguellus, 1575) on f. 170v. Sefer Dikduk: 1-64, 72, 84=30 leaves +(9_{1 and the conjugate blank; bound after work IV)= 32 leaves; hole in 34. Leshon Limmudim: 1-68, 712=60 leaves. Woodcut title border; 71,12 loose. IV: 1-54=20 leaves including final blank, a single bifolium belonging to work II is loosely bound between 53-4 . Woodcut title border. The whole with some marginal spotting, occasional marginalia; owner's bibliographic note at head of first title; censor's inscriptions on f.19r (Domenico Irosolomitano, 1592; Alessandro Scipione, 1598; Camillo Jagel, 1613) and f.19v (Renato da Modena 1626; Gir. Da Durallano, 1641). Seventeenth-century blind-tooled deerskin; worn, spine torn, some worming and water spots.}}

Dr. Jacob Klatzkin-his bookplate on front pastedown endpaper

Helek Dikduk: Vinograd, Constantinople 139; Yaari, Constantinople, 105. Yaari and Vinograd both report the copy in NY (Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary) as an unicum. The foliation of that copy is [168] leaves as compared to 170 leaves in the present lot.; Sefer Dikduk: Vinograd, Ortona 1; Habermann, ha-Madpisim Benei Soncino 71.; Leshon Limmudim: Vinograd, Constantinople 10; Yaari, Constantinople, 4; Mehlman 1241.; Pirkei Eliahu: Vinograd, Pesaro 52; Habermann, ha-Madpisim Benei Soncino 68; Mehlman 1236

8vo (7 5/8 x 5 5/8 in.; 194 x 142 mm). Four works bound together: Helek Dikduk: 1-54, 66, 7-128, 136, 14-238, 2410=170 leaves. Woodcut title border and initial word panel; title mended in gutter margin affecting edge of border which has been renewed in pen, library stamp removed from title leaving hole in blank portion of central panel and remains of a paper label, marginal mends in first few leaves, some water-stains; censor's inscriptions (Laurentius Franguellus, 1575) on f. 170v. Sefer Dikduk: 1-64, 72, 84=30 leaves +(91 and the conjugate blank; bound after work IV)= 32 leaves; hole in 34. Leshon Limmudim: 1-68, 712=60 leaves. Woodcut title border; 71+12 loose. IV: 1-54=20 leaves including final blank, a single bifolium belonging to work II is loosely bound between 53-4 . Woodcut title border. The whole with some marginal spotting, occasional marginalia; owner's bibliographic note at head of first title; censor's inscriptions on f.19r (Domenico Irosolomitano, 1592; Alessandro Scipione, 1598; Camillo Jagel, 1613) and f.19v (Renato da Modena 1626; Gir. Da Durallano, 1641). Seventeenth-century blind-tooled deerskin; worn, spine torn, some worming and water spots.
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I. Helek Dikduk, David ben Joseph Kimhi, Constantinople: Gershom ben Moses Soncino, 1530

the only complete copy known

A clear and lucid grammar of the Hebrew language by David ben Joseph Kimhi (Radak, c. 1160-c.1235). Kimhi was not only a renowned grammarian, but also an accomplished exegete, poet, translator and polemicist.  His father, Joseph KImhi, a translator and polemicist as well as a grammarian in his own right, had relocated the family from Spain to the city of Narbonne in Provence in order to escape the Almohad persecutions. David was raised by his brother Moses, also a grammarian and exegete of note. It is David, however, who is the most illustrious member of this distinguished family, excelling in a variety of fields, but most notably as a Bible commentator and grammarian.  His major philological work, the Mikhlol comprises a morphological and syntactic (grammatical) section (Helek ha-Dikduk), dealing with consonants, verbs and particles and a second part, the lexicon, Sefer ha-Shorashim, which was printed separately

The colophon dates the completion of the work to, "Monday, the seventh day of Elul" and then provides an ambiguous chronogram that may indicate one of five possible years. The most obvious readings would render either 5285 or 5288 (=1525 or 1528) but in both cases, the seventh of Elul in those years coincided with the Sabbath. Even allowing for the fact that the colophon clearly states that the work was completed on Monday, bibliographers have ruled out the possibility that either of those years was the date of this work, believing that Soncino would not have printed on the Sabbath.  Of the other three possibilities, 5290, 5293, or 5296 (=1530, 1533, 1536) the last, 1536, should be excluded because as a chronogram, it neither serves as an efficient recording of the date nor forms a word or phrase which might rationalize its use; at least one of these conditions must be met to justify the use of a word to indicate a year. The chronogram that would equal 1533 likewise does not provide an efficient recording of the date, but it does form a word. That word however means "shame." A word with such a clearly negative connotation would only be used to indicate a year in which some terrible event occurred, and that event would certainly be referenced elsewhere in the work, probably in the colophon, which is not the case here. The final remaining possibility is 5290 (=1530), a year in which the date in question, the seventh of Elul falls out on a Tuesday. Abraham Ya'ari concludes that the year is in fact, 5290 (=1530) and that the printer erred in the date which, according to him, should read Monday, the 6^th of Elul 5290.  Another possibility that Yaari seems not to have allowed for is that the date as printed is correct, but that the printer erred in the day of the week; that would mean that the colophon should read, Wednesday, the 7^th day of Elul 5290 (=1530). The answer to the exact date of printing of this book, the only remaining complete copy in the world, remains, at least for the time being, a tantalizing mystery.

II.  Sefer Dikduk (Mahalakh Shevilei ha-Da'at), Moses ben Joseph Kimhi, Ortona: Gershom Soncino, 1519

the only hebrew book printed in ortona

Grammatical work by Moses ben Joseph Kimhi (d. c. 1190), eldest son of Joseph Kimhi and brother of. David Kimhi. Sefer Dikduk, was the first printed Hebrew grammar; the first edition was printed by Joshua Soncino in 1488. The initial letters of the alternative name for the work, Mahalakh Shevilei ha-Da'at form the Hebrew name Moshe. Sefer Dikduk, with considerable brevity, emphasizes philological and syntactic analysis, and presents the fundamental rules of the Hebrew language, without addressing the many exceptions to those rules.  Of the four titles printed by Gershom Soncino during his brief stay in Ortona, this is the only book printed in Hebrew. (De Arcanis, a Latin book printed in Ortona the previous year, contains some Hebrew type, as well as Greek and Ethiopic). This copy comprises 32 leaves, one of which is bound after the last work in the volume and is lacking four leaves.

III.  Leshon Limmudim, David ben Solomon ibn Yahya, Constantinople: David and Samuel ibn Nahmias, 1506

SEE LOT 62 for information on this work

IV.  Pirkei Eliyahu, Elijah ben Asher ha-Levi Ashkenazi Levita (Bahur), Pesaro: Gershom Soncino, 1520

A grammatical work by Elijah ben Asher ha-Levi Ashkenazi Levita (Bahur, 1468-1549). Levita, a grammarian, lexicographer, translator, and poet was born in Neustadt, Germany, but at an early age emigrated to Italy. He taught Hebrew in Padua, Venice, and Rome, and among his most prominent students were Sebastian Muenster and Cardinal Egidius da Viterbo. In Padua Levita taught from and composed notes to Moses Kimhi's Mahalakh Shevilei ha-Da'at (see work # 2 in this lot). Pirkei Eliyahu is a philological work. Written partly in verse, it is a series of essays on Hebrew letters and vowels, phonetics, particles, genders of nouns, and prosody.  It is, as Levita states in the introduction, a supplement to and completion of his grammatical work, ha-Bahur.