Bidspirit auction | (TALMUD). LUIGI CHIARINI. Le Talmud

(TALMUD). LUIGI CHIARINI. Le Talmud de Babylone, Traduit en Langue Française et Complété par Celui de Jérusalem et par d'Autres Monuments de l'Antiquité Judaïque. Leipzig, 1831. FIRST EDITION. Two volumes bound in one (all published). pp. (2), 414, (1); * 373, (1). Foxed. Contemporary calf-backed speckled boards. Thick 8vo. Luigi Chiarini (1789-1832) was an Italian abbot, Orientalist and translator known for this FIRST TRANSLATION OF THE TALMUD INTO FRENCH. “Chiarini was a prominent member of the so-called ”Jewish Committee, ” organized by imperial decree May 22, 1825. This committee established schools for Jewish boys and girls as well as classes of Hebrew for Christian young men to study Jewish history, rabbinic literature, and even Yiddish, which would enable them to do missionary work among the Jews of Poland. Chiarini was entrusted by this body to translate the Babylonian Talmud, for which the Russian government granted him a subsidy. Chiarini's projects met with sharp criticism. The French scholar August Arthur Beugnot wrote in ”Revue Encyclopedique” (vol. 38, 6) that treating the translation of the Talmud as a means to reform the Jews was an abortive idea: “All in all, the reform of Judaism should be carried on by the Jews themselves and not by aliens.” See https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4319-chiarini-luigi.