Bidspirit auction | (ASCARELLI, DEVORÀ). Moshe Rieti. Ma’on

(ASCARELLI, DEVORÀ). Moshe Rieti. Ma’on HaShoalim [“Abode of the Supplicants.”] * With: Barchi Nafshi (admonitions by Rabbeinu Bachya). And: Seder Avodah (Sephardic rite). With translation into rhymed Italian by Devora Ascarelli. FIRST EDITION. The opening liturgical poem in Hebrew and Italian on facing pages, the remaining text in Italian only. ff. 29, (2). Small burnhole on f. 11 affecting couple of words, trace wormed toward end, closely trimmed. Later boards. 12mo. Vinograd, Venice 949; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. 6458,3. Venice, Daniel Zanetti, (1601). THE VERY FIRST PUBLICATION OF A JEWISH WOMAN'S WRITINGS. OF EXCEPTIONAL RARITY  (according to Vinograd, NLI possesses only a photocopy). This book contains the translations into Italian of Hebrew liturgical selections by Devorà Ascarelli (c. 1555-1608). It also contains her own poetry in Italian and is the only source of historical information about her.   According to the work’s preface by David della Rocca, Devorà and her husband Joseph (Giuseppe) Ascarelli lived in Rome. Their family associated with a community of Spanish exiles and they were among the leadership of the Catalan community of Rome. The title page of the book indicates in Italian that these liturgical works were “Vulgarizati dalla Mag. Madonna Devorà Ascarelli Hebrea” (translated by the great lady Devorà Ascarelli, a Jew). Not mentioned on the title page, but included in this work, are also two sonnets by her: 'Il Ritratto di Susanna' (The Picture of Susannah), based on the Apocrypha story of Susannah and the Elders; and 'Quanto e’ in me di Celeste' (Whatever in me is of Heaven); as well an anonymous short poem dedicated to her: 'Ape, Ingegnosa Voli' (Fly, O Clever Bee). See https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ascarelli-devora Modern translations of Ascarelli’s poems by Vladimir Rus appear in Sondra Henry and Emily Taitz, Written Out of History: A Hidden Legacy of Jewish Women Revealed Through Their Writing And Letters (1978) pp. 130–31.