Bidspirit auction | Mikhlal Yofi – Amsterdam, 1684.

Mikhlal Yofi – Amsterdam, 1684. With Latin Title Page, Latin “Open Letter, ” and Original Vellum Binding - Mikhlal Yofi, a commentary on the Torah, Prophets, and Writings based on the plain meaning of the text and Hebrew grammar, by Rabbi Shlomo ibn Melekh, with the supplementary work Leket Shikheḥah by the scholar Rabbi Jacob Abendana. Amsterdam, printed by Uri ben Aharon Halevi, 1684. A complete and attractive copy, preserving all of the rare supplementary sections often lacking from surviving examples, including a separate Latin title page, a Latin introduction, and a remarkable Latin “Open Letter” by Rabbi Jacob Abendana addressed to Christian scholars in the Low Countries. The author, one of the leading Sephardic scholars of the post-Expulsion period, combines linguistic analysis, biblical interpretation, and grammatical discussion throughout the books of the Hebrew Bible, continuing the tradition of the great medieval commentators of Spain. This Amsterdam edition was expanded with notes and additions by Rabbi Jacob Abendana, one of the foremost scholars of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam and a prominent figure in the Jewish-Sephardic intellectual world of seventeenth-century Western Europe. Abendana appended his work Leket Shikheḥah and supplemented the volume with introductions and letters in Latin intended for an educated Christian readership. The exceptional significance of this edition lies in its rare integration of Hebrew and Latin materials within a single volume. The Latin “Open Letter” and the approbations printed in Latin reflect the intellectual dialogue that flourished in Amsterdam between Jewish scholars and European academics, as well as the high esteem in which the Sephardic sages of Amsterdam were held by the scholarly and ecclesiastical world of their time. The volume opens with an attractive engraved Hebrew title page and is accompanied by a separate Latin title page—an uncommon feature in seventeenth-century Hebrew printing. These Latin sections are frequently absent from surviving copies, making their preservation in the present copy a matter of particular bibliographical importance. [4], 220 leaves. 30 cm. A complete and handsome copy. Condition: Very good. Binding: Original vellum binding.