17:08:58


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Bidding Information
Lot #    10677
Auction End Date    5/24/2005 2:00:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir
Title (Hebrew)    בן המלך והנזיר
Author    R. Abaham ibn Hasdai
City    Leghorn
Publisher    Moses Joshua Tonianno
Publication Date    1831
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    100 ff., 152:95 mm., usual light age staining, wide margins, old hands. A very good copy bound in modern cloth boards.
          
Paragraph 1    The R. Samuel Elmalah copy with his signature on title verso and final.

Variant copy. Title page is different than the title page recorded on the CD-EPI which reads as follows: Published for a third time at the behest of the Chief Rabbi, while in this copy it is not printed. Also the letters pertaining to the publication date are different (however the value of the letters is equal).

          
Detailed
Description		    Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir (The Son of the King and the Nazirite) Parables and wisdom, ethical work in prose. Based on the original Hindu tale about a prince who eventually became an ascetic. Balauhar and Budasaph, the names of the heroes of the tale in the old Pahlavi version, became Barlaam and Joasaph in the Greek version and Barlaam and Josaphat in the oldest Latin version (1048) and in later European translations. The Hebrew work is based on an Arabic version, but whether it is a translation or an adaptation cannot be determined until the Arabic text is established. Ben ha-Melekh ve-ha-Nazir is the account of a prince, Joasaph, sent by his father to a luxurious palace on an island in an effort to avert the fulfillment of a prophecy that he would become a Christian monk. When the prince discovers the reason for his confinement, he implores his father to allow him to return to the mainland. The king yields, and the son soon becomes aware of evil in the world, with consequent unrest in his heart. A monk, Barlaam, who comes disguised as a merchant (monks being prohibited in the land) gains access to the prince and gradually teaches him to realize the vanity of this world and the advantages of the ascetic life. Unlike the Greek and the Arabic tales, the Hebrew does not reintroduce the father, nor does it relate his efforts to undo the effects of the monk's instruction. Instead, it continues the discussion on philosophic and theological questions until the monk is obliged to leave and the prince feels bereft and lonely. The course of transmission of the original tale until it evolved into a world classic is complicated, with many problems still unresolved. In the European texts, the prince adopts the Christian faith of his preceptor. The Hindu original is obviously modeled after the life of Buddha. The Hebrew version is attractively written, and the prose narrative is interspersed with versified aphorisms.
          
Paragraph 2    ... הובא לבית הדפוס ע"י ... שד"ר ... יחזקאל אליעזר אבואלעפיה נר"ו בחברת המדפיס ...

בראש הספר "דברי המדפיס הראשון", מנטובה שי"ז; "אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה" [חאגיז] ו "הקדמת המוציא והמביא הספר לדפוס" בדפוס וואנזבעק תפ"ז, הקדמת ר' יחזקאל אליעזר אבואלעפייא.

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0106166; EJ; Vinograd, Leghorn 793
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Israel:    Checked
Italy:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica