Bidspirit auction | KALONYMOS BEN KALONYMOS OF ARLES

KALONYMOS BEN KALONYMOS OF ARLES (Maestro Calo). Even Bochan [“The Touchstone”]. Edited by Yom Tov Tzarfathi ben Peretz. Naples, Joseph ben Jacob Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser, 1489. FIRST EDITION. Wide-margined copy. Marginalia in Judeo-Español provide translation of technical terms. Leaves 32-33 printed in correct order (of the copies examined by Isaac Rivkind, only one had these leaves in order; see Dikdukei Sepharim in: Kiryath Sepher II (1925-6) p. 56, no. 3). * Provenance:  Moses Gaster - Elkan Nathan Adler - Joseph Wineman. ff. 46 (of 50) opening four leaves supplied in facsimile. Several leaves laid to size; outer third of f. 22 provided in facsimile. Stained in places, few neat paper repairs. Recent gilt-ruled morocco, spine in compartments; housed in custom slip-case. Sm. 4to. References: Vinograd, Naples 7; Goff Heb-66; Offenberg 102; Wineman Cat. 35a; Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod i-60. Of distinguished family lineage, Kalonymos ben Kalonymus (1287-1337) originated from Arles, Provence, and bore the title Nasi. He studied in Salonika and later moved to Catalonia and then Rome, where he composed many original philosophical works as well as translations into Hebrew from Arabic and Latin. The author pokes fun here at the human condition, at aspiring patricians who claim bogus pedigrees, self-proclaimed savants and pious frauds (ff. 16-17). Also noted are such important historical references as the first expulsion from France in 1306 and the massacres of 1320-21. See M. Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature, Vol. II (1933), pp. 207, 600, 606-610; I. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, pp. 28-9; EJ, Vol. VI, col. 1130.