DELMEDIGO, JOSEPH SOLOMON OF CRETE.
Sepher Eilim - Sepher Mayan Ganim - Sepher Mayan Chathum.

Sepher Eilim - Sepher Mayan Ganim - Sepher Mayan Chathum.

FIRST EDITION. Three Parts in one, two titles. Numerous astronomical and mathematical illustrations.
Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author (tipped in from another copy). Titles within typographical border. A wide-margined copy. pp. (6 of 8); 83; (4), 190, (2); 80. ff. 101-04 misbound but complete. Lacks single Latin introductory leaf following opening title of Sepher Eilim, portrait laid down, upper corner in facsimile and with some loss to textual caption. Previous owner's signature (Moses Marcado, dated 1686) and inscriptions on front free- endpapers, scattered light staining. Contemporary elaborately tooled calf with metal clasps and hinges, spine chipped, upper cover loose. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Amsterdam 20; Fuks, Amsterdam 150-1; Silva Rosa 6.

Menassah ben Israel, Amsterdam: 1628-29.


One of the great scientific books of Hebrew Literature, with treatises relating to geometry, algebra, chemistry, astronomy, physics, medicine and metaphysics.
     The Sepher Eilim has been described as: "The most sumptuously illustrated of early scientific works in Hebrew, and unique in printed Hebrew literature before the modern period" (see National Library of Canada Catalogue, The Jacob H. Lowy Collection, 1981, no. 80).
     See also, A. Neher, Jewish Thought and the Scientific Revolution of the Sixteenth Century (1986) pp. 251-2; H. Friedenwald, Jewish Luminaries in Medical History-Catalogue (1946) p.111; A.J. Karp. From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (1991) pp. 199-200.