Bidspirit auction | MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL. Nishmath Chaim

MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL. Nishmath Chaim [”The Breath of Life”: on the immortality of the soul]. Frontispiece likeness of Author. The Mayer Suzlberger copy (with his bookplate). pp. xx; ff. 107. Contemporary boards. 4to. Vinograd, Leipzig 190. Leipzig, L[eopold] Schneeweiss, 1862.     This edition of this classic work by Menasseh is prefaced by a lengthy biography of the Rabbi. The erudition the author displays in Nishmath Chaim clearly shows not only his extensive familiarity with Rabbinic sources, but the fact that he was totally conversant with numerous ancient Greek and Roman authors as well.