Only editions, octavo, xvi, 94 pp.; lxxxii, 49 ff. 190:130 mm., nice margins, age staining. A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

Two individual works, each an only edition, each dealing with the writings of prominent rishonim (early sages). The first title, Shire Shelomoh, is an assembled collection  of the poetry of the famed and highly regarded medieval Sephardic poet R. Solomon ibn Gabirol (c. 1021–c. 1057) by R. Leopold Dukes. The second work, Hemdah Genuzah, is am collection of philosophical writings and letters, mainly by, to, or about Maimonides. The prominent subjects of these works needs no description. The compilers of these two notable works are:

R. Leopold Dukes (Judah Loeb; 1810–1891), historian of Jewish literature. Dukes was born in Pressburg, Hungary. He was a student of R. Moses Sofer and of R. Ḥayyim Joseph Pollak; the latter introduced him to secular study. An inveterate, though poor, traveler, Dukes visited most of the important libraries in Europe, researching Jewish manuscripts and uncovering many hitherto unknown medieval works. His research covered various aspects of language and literature: aggadic literature, Bible exegesis, medieval Jewish literature, Hebrew grammar and the masoretic text, and talmudic maxims and truisms. Frequently, however, his research was unsystematic and his edited texts in need of correction. Dukes' translation of Rashi's Pentateuch commentary into German was published with Sofer's imprimatur in Prague during 1833–38 (Ḥamishah Ḥumshei Torah im Ha'takah Ashkenazit al Perush Rashi [Raschi zum Pentateuch], 5 vols.). Dukes produced various studies on the poetry of Solomon ibn Gabirol and Moses Ibn Ezra. His autobiography appears in AZDJ, 56 (1892).

Zevi Hirsch Edelmann (1805–1858), Hebrew scholar, printer, and publisher. Edelmann, who was born in Svisloch, Belorussia, published books at Danzig, Koenigsberg, and London. In England, in particular, he carefully searched the libraries for Hebrew manuscript material. Edelmann published editions of hitherto unpublished medieval Hebrew literature such as Estori Ha-Parhi's Kaftor va-Ferah (1851, repr. 1959); Ginzei Oxford (translated into English by M.H. Bresslau and published in Treasures of Oxford, 1851), a collection (with L. Dukes) of liturgical and secular poetry by Spanish-Jewish poets; Derekh Tovim (also translated into English by M.H. Bresslau and published in Path of Good Men, 1852), varia by Maimonides, Judah ibn Tibbon and others; Ḥemdah Genuzah (1856), an important collection of philosophical writings and letters, mainly by, to, or about Maimonides; Divrei Ḥefeẓ (1853), another collection of philosophical and poetical material; and also M.Ḥ. Luzzatto's La-Yesharim Tehillah (1854). Edelmann also published a number of important liturgical items: Seder Haggadah (1845), with critical notes; Haggadah Le-Leil Shimmurim (1845), with commentaries and notes; and Siddur Hegyon Lev (1854) containing Edelmann's critical notes and emendations, No'am Megadim by J. Teomim, and Mekor Berakhah by E. Landshuth. Edelmann's first publications, which were purely talmudic, were Haggahotu-Vi'urim li-Me'irat Einayim (1839) and Alim le-Mivḥan, including Megillat Sefer Iggeret ha-Purim (1844) on Esther. He also wrote an historical study on Saul Wahl , the alleged oneday king of Poland, Gedul lat Sha'ul (1854), with an appendix Nir David. His considerable publishing ventures were carried out under conditions of great financial stringency. Edelmann lived in Berlin from 1852 and died in the ward for the insane in a Berlin hospital.

Hebrew Description

שירים ... מהחכם ... ר’ שלמה בן גבירול ז"ל. אספתים מאוצרות הספרים אשר בעיר אקספרד, פארמא ... וויען. וספחתי עליהם הערות והוצאתים ראשונה לאור יהודה המכונה ליב דוקעס איש פרעסבורג ... מחברת א - ב. ‬