Bidspirit auction | Paraprasis Caldayca en los Cantares

Paraprasis Caldayca en los Cantares de Selomoh – Amsterdam, 1683 Song of Songs and Pirkei Avot in Ladino and Spanish An Extremely Rare Edition - Paraprasis Caldayca en los Cantares de Selomoh: con el texto Hebrayco, y Ladino, tradusida en lengua Espanola. Amsterdam, 1683. An exceptionally rare edition, among the earliest and most important books printed for the communities of former Conversos and descendants of the Spanish exiles in Western Europe. The volume contains the Song of Songs in Hebrew, accompanied by a Ladino translation printed in Latin characters, together with a Spanish translation of the Aramaic Targum to the Song of Songs. Following the title page appears an introduction by the printer David Tartas, one of the most important Jewish printers in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. In his preface, he relates that the scholar Moses Belmonte translated into Spanish both the Aramaic Targum to the Song of Songs and Pirkei Avot, which was traditionally studied in Sephardic communities on the Sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot. The second section of the volume (pp. 92–167) contains Pirkei Avot, with each mishnah printed in Hebrew alongside a detailed Spanish translation. These translations were intended for members of the Spanish-Portuguese communities whose everyday language remained Spanish, while their knowledge of Hebrew was often insufficient for independent study of traditional Jewish texts. At the conclusion of the book are Spanish verses and closing remarks by Joseph Franco Serrano, one of the prominent literary figures of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam. Printed in Latin characters and read from left to right, in the style of contemporary Spanish books, the volume provides a fascinating testimony to the spiritual and cultural efforts of former Converso communities to preserve and renew their connection to Judaism through translations of foundational Jewish texts into the language understood by the broader public. Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was the foremost center of Spanish-Portuguese Jewry in Europe. Its Jewish presses produced numerous works in Spanish, Portuguese, and Ladino for communities that had openly returned to Judaism after generations of life as Conversos. Such books were generally printed in limited numbers, and many have become exceptionally rare. 167, [1] pages. 15 cm. Very good condition. Gilt page edges. Minor age staining. Contemporary leather binding. Extremely rare. An important work for the history of Spanish-Portuguese Jewry, Jewish translation literature, and early Ladino publishing, printed in one of the most significant Jewish centers of the early modern period.