Bidspirit auction | Keter Kehunah and Keter Malchut

Keter Kehunah and Keter Malchut – The Yiddish Josippon. Illustrated Edition with Important Historical Additions. Amsterdam, 1771. - Keter Kehunah and Keter Malchut – The Yiddish Josippon. Illustrated Edition with Important Historical Additions. Amsterdam, 1771. Keter Kehunah and Keter Malchut, Parts I and II of Sefer Josippon in Ashkenazic (Yiddish), also known as She’erit Yisrael, by Rabbi Menachem Mann HaLevi. Amsterdam, 1771. Second edition, with illustrations. An attractive and highly sought-after edition of one of the most popular Jewish historical works ever printed in Yiddish. Intended to make Jewish history accessible to the broader public, the work became a staple of Ashkenazic Jewish homes and remained widely read for more than two centuries. The two volumes survey Jewish history from Creation through the destruction of the Temple, and from the destruction of the Temple through the author’s own era. Alongside its historical narrative, the work incorporates extensive accounts of Jewish communities throughout the world, their customs, experiences, and fortunes across the generations. Among the subjects discussed are the Expulsion from Spain and Portugal, the history of the Conversos, the discovery of America, the Jewish communities of India and Cochin, Jewish life in Europe and the East, and many of the major events in Jewish history. As such, the work served as a popular historical encyclopedia, shaping the historical consciousness of generations of Yiddish-speaking Jews. The text is illustrated throughout with numerous woodcuts depicting historical figures, events, and scenes. These illustrations contributed greatly to the book’s popularity and made it one of the most visually appealing and widely sought-after Jewish historical works of its time. Particular importance attaches to the present edition. The second volume includes an expanded historical supplement in Chapter 36, describing the history of the Jewish people in general and of the Amsterdam Jewish community in particular during the years 1745–1769. This addition is absent from many later editions based on the first edition (Amsterdam, 1743), and lends the present printing special historical and bibliographical significance. Beyond its value as a historical work, Keter Malchut is an important source for understanding the cultural and intellectual world of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jewry before the Haskalah. It reflects the manner in which ordinary Jews encountered and understood both Jewish and general history. [1], 244; [1], 151 leaves. 18 cm. Condition: Good to very good. Time staining. An illustrated and expanded edition of one of the most influential and widely read works of Jewish historical literature in the early modern period.