ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA. Sefer Zurat ha-Erets… Sphaera mundi, describens figuram terrae dispositionemque orbium coelestium & motus stellarum, autore Rabi Abraham Hispano filio R. Haijae… Item arithmetica (Sefer ha-Mispar)… in numeris integris & fractis, a Rabi Elia [Mizrahi]… conscripta. Accesserunt… S. Munsteri annotationes marginales.

Rarissime édition originale bilingue hébreu-latin du plus célèbre traité d’astronomie d’Abraham bar Hiyya (1065-1136), un mathématicien, astronome et philosophe juif espagnol.

Adams A-33 ; VD16 ZV-19 ; USTC 661378 ; STC German 1; Zinner 1891; Macclesfield 119; Burmeister, Münster 146; Houzeau & Lancaster 1217; IA 100.165; Steinschneider 673.3; Zinner 1891.

Sphaera Mundi, printed with Mizrahi (Elijah) Arithmetica, translated by O. Schreckenfuchs, edited by Sebastian Munster, printed in Hebrew and Latin.

“This beautifully printed volume, is both in its Hebrew and Latin parts, illustrated by neat Diagrams and Figures cut in wood; and subsequent to a Preface in Latin, gives us (underneath a short Hebrew Title) the following copious Latin Title […].

The above work of Rabbi Abraham is thus entered in the Bibliotheca Brittanica.

Abraham R. Fil. Haijae, a native of Spain, and author of ‘Sphaera Mundi, Hebraice, cim versione Oswaldi Schreckenfuchsii, et Notis Sebastiani Munsteri’, Basil, 1546, 4to.

The Device of Henry Petrus (the printer of this finely executed volume) appears at the end of both the Hebrew and Latin texts.

The following extract from the ‘General Biography’ must necessarily be understood to designate the author of the ‘Sphaera Mundi’ notwithstanding the variation in spelling his Father’s name – ‘Abraham Ben Chaila, a Spanish Rabbi, in the 13^th century, practiced Astrology, and assumed the character of a Prophet. He predicted the coming of the Messiah, and fixed for the time of his advent, the year 1358, but fortunately died in 1303 (fifty-five years before the time when his prediction was to be fulfilled).

He is also said to have written a Treatise on the Figure of the Earth in Hebrew and Latin, which was published at Basel in 1546, 4to.” (A descriptive catalogue of books in the Library of John Holmes).

The author, often known as Savasorda, wrote a treatise on practical geometry, which contains the earliest account of Arabic algebra written in Europe. This work deals with astronomy and geography.

Il était connu sous plusieurs autres noms, dont Savasordia, Abraham Judaeus et également Abraham Hispano comme dans le présent ouvrage.

Il comporte aussi « Compendium arithmetices » par Elija Orientali, également en hébreu et en latin, et « Quos Libros Osvvaldus » par Erasme Oswald Schreckenfuchs.

The treatise on arithmetic by Elijah Mizrahi (c. 1540-1526), an important figure in Ottoman Jewry, was first published in Constantinople in 1533.

L’ouvrage, imprimé en hébreu et en latin, comporte des commentaires et des explications de Sebastian Münster.

Il est orné de nombreuses gravures sur bois et diagrammes dans le texte ainsi que de la marque de l’imprimeur répétée à la fin de chacune des deux versions hébreu et latine.

Superbe exemplaire conservé dans sa reliure de l’époque en peau de truie estampée à froid sur ais de bois.