Bidspirit auction | KIMCHI, DAVID (RaDa’K).  Sepher HaShorashim

KIMCHI, DAVID (RaDa’K).  Sepher HaShorashim [“Book of Roots:” Biblical lexicon and grammar]. ff. (1), 5-570 columns, pp. 3. Trimmed, previous owners’ marks, light staining, marginal strengthening on opening leaves, censor's signature on final page. Modern boards. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Venice 140; Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod 516. Venice, Daniel Bomberg, 1529. A scarce edition of this influential Hebrew lexicographical work. The Provencal exegete and grammarian R. David Kimchi (1160? -1235?), was a life-long anti-Christian polemicist. Under the entry “elem” (column 376), the author, quoting his father R. Yoseph Kimchi, derides the Christian assertion that the word “almah” (a young girl) found in Isaiah Chap 7:14 refers to a virgin birth. Unsurprisingly, the offending lines were struck out by the ever-watchful Church censor; although centuries later, the ink has oxidized whereby the words can now be read.