Bidspirit auction | KALONYMOS BEN KALONYMOS OF ARLES

KALONYMOS BEN KALONYMOS OF ARLES - Even Bochan [ethics in the form of satire].. Third edition. Learned marginalia throughout. Verso of title-page with inscription and signature by Samson Cohen Modon. ff. 32. Dampwrinkled, previous owner’s marks, signed by censors at end. Few light stains. Modern mottled calf. 4to. Vinograd, Cremona 18. Vincenzo Conti, Cremona: 1558. From a prominent and distinguished Provençal Jewish family, the philosopher Kalonymos of Arles (1287-1337) pokes fun here at the human condition, at aspiring patricians who claim bogus pedigrees, self-proclaimed savants and pious frauds. Also noted are historical references to the first expulsion from France in 1306 and to the massacres of 1320-21. See I. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, pp. 28-9; M. Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature Vol. II, pp. 608-11.