1523 Hebrew edition, Mikneh Avram, Peculium Abrae by Abraham de Balmes. Printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice

In 1523 the Venetian publisher Daniel Bomberg partnered with the University of Padua rabbi, translator, professor and scholar Abraham de Balmes, to produce a work on Hebrew grammar. Bomberg stated that his intention was to produce a work that helped Christian scholars by revealing the added beauty/context/etc. that the original Hebrew language provided. The book was issued in two editions, a Latin-Hebrew parallel text, and a Hebrew only text. This copy is the rarer Hebrew only text.

The title page is printed in Rashi script.

On the fifth leaf de Balmes introduced an ancient Hebrew script, of the Ashuri style, stating it was found beyond the river. This alphabet later found use in other works, purporting it to be magic (see the 1531 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa work, The Three Books of Occult Philosophy, calling this alphabet the Scriptura Transitus Fluvii).

de Balmes passed when preparing this work, and it was completed by Kalonymus, per a note on page 143.

The last printed leaf, on the third to last line, states that this book was published in Venice in 1523.

About the Author -

Through his Latin translations of many Hebrew works on philosophy and astronomy he attained a great reputation in the Christian world. He dedicated to Cardinal Grimani two of these translations: (1) of an astronomical work in Arabic by Ibn al-Heitham (died 1038), which had been translated into Hebrew by Jacob ben Machir, in 1372, under the title "Liber de Mundo"; (2) of the "Farewell Letter" of the Arabic philosopher Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), which he translated from the Hebrew under the title "Epistolæ Expeditionis" (MS. Vat. No. 3897). In Padua Abraham delivered philosophical addresses to Christian audiences.

He also compiled a book on Hebrew grammar, in which he attempted to treat philosophically the construction of the Hebrew language and to refute the opinions of the eminent grammarian David Kimhi. In this work Abraham was the first to treat the syntax (which he called in Hebrew harkabah) as a special part of the grammar.

About the Printer -

Daniel Bomberg (c. 1483 – c. 1549) was one of the most important early printers of Hebrew books. A Christian Hebraist who employed rabbis, scholars and apostates in his Venice publishing house, Bomberg printed the first Mikraot Gdolot (Rabbinic Bible) and the first complete Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, based on the layout pioneered by the Soncino family printers, with the commentaries of Rashi, and of the Tosfot in the margins. The editions set standards that are still in use today, in particular the pagination of the Babylonian Talmud. His publishing house printed about 200 Hebrew books, including Siddurim, responsa, codes of law, works of philosophy and ethics and commentaries. He was the first Hebrew printer in Venice and the first non-Jewish printer of Hebrew books.

In the parallel text edition, Bomberg wrote (in Latin) that he printed this work because "There are divine mysteries in the words and letters themselves of the holy text, mysteries that cannot be perceived by means of the Latin or Greek."

Provenance -

A library stamp at the last page reveals that this book was once in the Jerusalem library of the Rabbi Herzog Academy. This library has been since disseminated as the Academy struggled and merged with other institutions.

The title page has several inscriptions. I reached out to a friend who reads Hebrew, and he informed me the inscriptions weren't written in Hebrew, but Aramaic. Using translation software, it seems that the inscriptions may refer to the text being too stringent/bad, something of a censor's note; but, the translation software was struggling greatly.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 1792497, which only records one Hebrew edition copy in the library of the University of Amsterdam.

Worldcat records eleven more copies in the world's libraries (OCLC #778248914); the book is held by prestigious libraries such as University of Cambridge and the British Library of St. Pancras.

David Werner Amram details the printing of this work, in great detail, in his work, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 20.5 x 15.5 x 3 cm. Leather binding; boards blind stamped in the Cambridge style, with corner fleur-de-lis in the central frame and a central blind stamp. Spine with three raised bands; two compartments with a central blind fleur-de-lis, two compartments with Hebrew inscriptions in blind (one on red leather).

Pages - 157 leaves.

Condition -

See pictures. Binding is fresh, although the spine has sunned just a slight bit; also, there is a light rub mark to the spine label. Front (Hebrew to the right) endpaper with ex-libris stamp and bookseller graphite notes "5/03 DJO 2000". Library stamps throughout the book from several institutions. Fresh endpapers. Title page repaired around edges and gutter. Title page darkened, with writing and library stamp; some loss to catchword at bottom of recto. Some darkening, especially near edges, throughout (and thumbing, may be the same thing). Moisture mark edges that sometimes intrudes on text. Pages have been numbered in an old hand. Occasional graphite numberings as well. Occasional chipped corner/page edge. Occasional annotation. Despite wear, the pages are thick and healthy (not brittle).