Physical Description

First edition, XX, 122, 8 pp., octavo, 195:120 mm., light age staining, nice margins. A very good copy bound in later boards, rubbed.

Detail Description

Added T.P.: Abraham Bar Chyiah... on the mathematical and technical chronology of the Hebrews, Nazarites, Mahommetans etc. printed for the first time ... by ... Herschell Filipowski.

The oldest Hebrew work of the calculation of the calendar by R. Abraham bar Hiyya ha-Nasi (called by non-Jews Abraham Judæus, and frequently Savasorda, which is a corruption of the Arabic saḥib al-shurṭah—"governor of a city").

A celebrated Jewish mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher of the twelfth century. He lived in Barcelona in 1136. According to S. D. Luzzatto, there exists a manuscript, dated April 10, 1136, in which the scribe adds to the name Abraham bar Ḥiyya the formula for the dead, ("May the memory of the righteous be blessed"). From this it may be inferred that 1136 was the year of his death. Perhaps, further proof of this is afforded by the circumstance that the translator Plato of Tivoli, having completed the translation of the "Quadripartitum" of Ptolemy, October 20, 1138, does not mention Abraham bar Ḥiyya, although before that time Plato had availed himself of his services as interpreter. But some scholars think that the Magister Abraham who dictated "De Astrolabio" (probably at Toulouse) to Rudolph de Bruges (a work that the latter finished in 1143) was identical with Abraham bar Ḥiyya. As the title "Sephardi" (Spaniard) is always appended to his name, it is certain that he was Spanish. Nevertheless, he must have passed several years in southern France, as he composed some works for the Provençal Jews, in which he complains of their ignorance of mathematics. Steinschneider has proved that he was not a disciple of R. Moses ha-Darshan or the teacher of Ibn Ezra.

R. Abraham bar Ḥiyya, together with R. Abraham ibn Ezra, occupies an important place in the history of Jewish science. He was, indeed, one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, Spain, and Italy the intermediaries between Mohammedan science and the Christian world. He aided this movement not only by original works, but also by translations and by acting as interpreter for another great translator, the celebrated Plato of Tivoli. Steinschneider has also shown that his original works were written in Hebrew and not, as some have thought, in Arabic.

Hebrew Description

ספר העבור : להקדמון ... רבי אברהם בר חייא הנשיא זצ"ל ... הוא ספר הראשון בחכמת העבור ... גם ערוכים בו לוחות רבות ... נעתק מבית גנזי המלך אשר בעיר החכמה פאריז ... ומבית אוצרות באדלי בעיר ... אוכספורד ... הוגה ... ונדפס פעם ראשונה על ידי הצעיר צבי בן יחזקאל פיליפאווסקי.

עמ’ XX-[V]: "הקדמת המבקר" ו"תולדות המחבר".

עמ’ 121: פרק אחד מספר חשב האפוד על חשבון המהלכות להחכם ... דון פרופיית דוראן הלוי ... כפי אשר מצאתיו באוצר ספרי פאריז.

עמ’ בסוף: "ספר מורה הנבוכים כפי אשר העתיק ר’ יהודה בר’ שלמה חריזי". כולל "הקדמת המתרגם" ו"הקדמת המורה". ההמשך לא נדפס. על סיבת הדבר עיין: ארשת, ג, תשכ"א, עמ’ 114, מס’ 38.

References

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 # 000106810; JE; Steinschneider, Z. D. M. G. 1876, p. 633;