View Auction Listing - Philologus hebraeo-mixtus

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Bidding Information
Lot #		10811
Auction End Date		7/12/2005 10:10:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Philologus hebraeo-mixtus

Author

[Illustrated] Johann Leusden

City

Leiden

Publisher

Luchtmann et Poolsum

Publication Date

1699

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

Frontpiece, [9], 489, [6] pp., 195:150 mm., wide crisp margins, clean sheets. A near fine copy bound in contemporary full vellum boards. Many fine copperplate illustrations.

Detailed
Description

Sumptuous work on Jewish religion, customs, philosophy, and practices by the noted Christian-Hebraist Johann Leusden. Philologus hebraeo-mixtus, in Latin with occasional Hebrew, is notable for the illustrations depicting the practices described in the book. It begins with a munificent front piece depicting with Aaron ha-Kohen being entreated by a woman, perhaps representing Israel in distress, with a vignette of Titus taking the vessels of the Temple into captivity in Rome. Within the text are full page illustrations of seventeen types of attire worn by the priests in the Temple; of the Tabernacle with varied activity within its walls and wagons surrounding it representing the gifts brought by the princes of the tribes of Israel at the time of its dedication; the vessels used in the Tabernacle and Temple; four pages each with four vignettes of scenes of Jewish life, depicting tefilin (phylacteries), a Jew holding Megillat Esther, blowing the shofar, and wearing tefilin; sitting in a Sukkah, hair cutting, distributing alms, and blessing the new moon; and lighting a candelabra, Purim festivities, Tisha b’Av, and flagellation. Yet another page, this with three vignettres, the top across the length of the page described as Poculum Zelotyiae (a drinking bout), a funeral, and a circumsion. In addition to these illustrations there are numerous head-pieces and tail-pieces in addition to historiated letters at the beginning of all major sections. The illustrations, which are detailed copper plate, were so well done and popular that when the Jewish Encyclopedia wanted to portray scenes of Jewish life it used the illustration from this book. The full title of the work is Philologus hebraeo-mixtus, una cum spicilegio philologico, continente decem quaestionum & positionum praecipue philologico-hebraicarum & judaicarum centurias ; auctore Johanne Leusden. Editio tertia, iterum figuris aeneis ornata, & jam argumentis, singulis dissertationibus praepositis . . . . in red and black ink. Apart from its artistic value Philologus hebraeo-mixtus is a serious scholarly work.

Johann Leusden (1624–1699), Calvinist theologian and Hebraist. Having numbered Jews among his teachers, in 1650 he became a professor of Hebrew language at the University of Utrecht. In collaboration with the Amsterdam publisher Joseph Athias, he published the first Hebrew Bible in which the verses are numbered (Biblia Hebraica, 1661, 16672). The edition became well known for its exactness and beautiful print, and served as a model for almost all publications of the Bible up to the 19th century. Leusden was one of the foremost Bible scholars of his time and wrote several treatises on Bible research and Hebrew philology. He also translated (Utrecht, 1656) the catalog of 613 commandments that heads Maimonides' halakhic code.

Reference
Description

EJ; JE; New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 6 (1910), 466; B. Glasius, Godgeleerd Nederland, 2 (1851–56), 365–7; Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 9 (1933), 601–2 (incl. bibl.).

Associated Images

4 Images (Click thumbnail to view full size image):

Order	Image	Caption
1

2

3

4

Listing Classification

Period

17th Century:

Checked

Location

Holland:

Checked

Subject

Characteristic

Bindings:		Checked
Language:		Latin

Manuscript Type

Kind of Judaica