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Ruah ha-Hen The SPIRIT of GRACE - Zech. 12.10: Physica Hebraea Rabbi Aben Tybbon. hoc est Spiritus Gratiae inscribitur nunc primum edita et Latina facta
155548871Köln Cologne: Maternus Cholinus and Jakob Soter 1555. First Latin diglot edition. Hardcover. Good. Small octavo. A-L16 = 88 leaves signed on each side e.g. A8 verso is signed A16; H9 missigned G9. 16 157 2 epigram 1 blankpp. Pagination and register run from right to left. Modern quarter sheep over marbled boards gauffered edges endleaves renewed. Library stamps and old owner entries at title; early marginal annotation and underlinings in the “Epistolaâ€; text toned with dampstain affecting bottom quarter of text throughout not impairing legibility; marginal tear at C7. A good complete copy with ample margins.<br /> <br /> Third edition per Steinschneider and the first Latin diglot version of this anonymous introductory work. First published at Venice in 1544 it is notable that a Latin translation appears so soon after a sixteenth-century editio princeps of a Hebrew work. It comprises a commentary on and explanation of difficult terms in Maimonides' Moreh Nevukhim Guide for the Perplexed with an elucidation of terminology in the translations of Arabic to Hebrew as well as the jargon of medieval philosophical literature in general. As the editor of the present edition notes at the title "Ru'ah Hen has been attributed to the renowned translator R. Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon c. 1120-c. 1190 and to R. Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Samson Anatoli 13th century also a translator of note. Ibn Tibbon known as the 'father of translators' was born in Granada Spain but relocated to Lunel in Provence France to escape the persecution of the Jews in the former location. He supported himself as a physician coming into contact with many sages one of whom R. Meshullam ben Jacob requested that ibn tibbon translate R. Bahya ibn Paquda's Hovot ha-Levavot into Hebrew. In addition to translating that work from Arabic ibn Tibbon also translated several other books into Hebrew among them R. Judah Halevi's Kuzari R. Saadiah Gaon's Emunot ve-De'ot and R. Solomon ibn Gabirol's Middot ha-Nefesh and Mivhar Peninim" Heller. While this is the fourth known printing of the work it is the first to include vowel points and the translation of the formerly Jewish convert to Christianity Johann Isaac Levita 1515-1577 a descendant of Elias Levita the most famous in his time of those Jews who sought scholarly contact with Christians and taught Christians Hebrew. As an added bonus the present edition includes Maimonides' De astrologia epistola elegans. The celebrated English jurist and Hebrew scholar John Selden is known to have had a copy of Ruah ha-Hen in his library Oxford Library note.<br /> <br /> Adams J-403. Cf. Heller The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book 815 noting the present ed. Steinschneider 1 col. 639; no. 4038. VD 16 I1. Hebrew title: רוח החן. Maternus Cholinus and Jakob Soter hardcover
