Bidspirit auction | Song of Songs and Pirkei

Song of Songs and Pirkei Avot. With Ladino and Spanish translations. Amsterdam, [1766]. Ornate early leather binding - Song of Songs and Pirkei Avot. With translations into Ladino and Spanish Amsterdam, [1766]. An attractive and significant edition of the Song of Songs accompanied by Judeo-Spanish translations, reflecting the linguistic and cultural world of Sephardic and Portuguese Jewry in eighteenth-century Europe. The volume includes the work entitled Paraphrasis Caldayca en los Cantares de Selomoh—the Song of Songs in Hebrew, together with a Ladino translation printed in Latin characters, and a Spanish translation based on the Aramaic Targum, arranged clearly paragraph by paragraph alongside the Hebrew text. In addition, the book contains Pirkei Avot, with a separate title page, accompanied by a complete Spanish translation, intended for ethical and moral study among Spanish-speaking readers. Printed in Amsterdam in the year 5526 [1766], one of the foremost centers of Hebrew printing and Sephardic Jewish literature in the early modern period, this edition serves as a vivid testament to the integration of classical Jewish texts with the linguistic culture of Ladino and Spanish-speaking communities. 112 pages; 109–144 pages. 15.5 cm. Condition: very good. Minor defects to the white margins of the opening leaves. Binding: ornate early leather binding with gilt decoration; gilt edges. A fine and impressive copy of a bilingual Sephardic work combining Scripture, translation, and Ladino-Spanish culture—an appealing item for collectors of Sephardic books and Amsterdam imprints.