Auction 80
Fine Judaica: * A Singular Collection of Important Hebrew Manuscripts. * Printed Books: Exceptional Offering from Two Notable Collections. * The Yosef Goldman Collection of American-Judaica.
Mar 28, 2019
(Your local time)
USA
242 West 30th Street, 12th Floor, New York NY 10001
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LOT 79:
REUCHLIN, JOHANNES
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Sold for: $30,000
Estimated price:
$
20,000 - $25,000
Auction house commission:
25%
VAT: On commission only
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Liber de verbo mirifico.
First edition.
ff. (50). Some light foxing. Modern diced calf, housed in custom slip-case. Sm. folio. BMC III, p. 755; Goff, R-154.
Basel: Johannes Amerbach 1494
The first work in Latin devoted to the Kabbalah. Reuchlin’s first major publication was this tract on Jewish Kabbalah, an interest inspired by the Florentine humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. De verbo mirifico (“Miracle Making Word”) is written in the form of a dialogue: There are three participants - the Greek philosopher Sidonius, the Jew Baruchias, and Reuchlin himself, appearing under the pseudonym Capnio. These three meet accidentally at Pforzheim where they discuss the occult meaning of the Hebrew pentagrammaton “YHSVH,” the letters of the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. This early work is notable for claiming the prime importance of the Hebrew language but also explicit in its rejections of Judaism. Indeed, it sought to "Christianize" Jewish mysticism.
