Bidspirit auction | JAFFE, MORDECHAI . Levush Ha’Orah

JAFFE, MORDECHAI . Levush Ha’Orah [elucidations and novellea to Rashi’s commentary on the Chumash]. FIRST EDITION . Map of The Land of Israel on f. 84v. Text-illustration of a palm of a hand on f.(5)v of the final gathering. With the rare supplement: U’Mordechai Yatza BeLevush Malchuth.” Printer’s device on verso of title. ff. 91, (9). Stained, opening couple leaves repaired, supplemental leaves with some paper repairs affecting few words supplied in facsimile. Modern blind-tooled calf. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Prague 123. Prague, Abraham ben Moses Sedil, (1603). Contains the important woodcut map of the Land of Israel and surrounding nations, and charting the travels of the Children of Israel. Decorative and clearly defined, the map depicts ships riding the seas with cities delineated by towers adorned with flags - an altogether sophisticated representation. The details of the map were entirely based on information derived from the Bible and its commentaries, for, as E. & G. Wajntraub point out in their “Hebrew Maps of the Holy Land” (1992) p. 41 “it was not possible to draw eye-witness reports, and all geographical data is based [only] on the geographical knowledge of the Bible.”