Beschreibung:

BIBLE, OLD TESTAMENT, Spanish . Biblia en lengua Española traduzida palabra por palabra dela verdad Hebrayca. Ferrara: Duarte Pinel (Abraham Usque), for Jerónimo de Vargas (Yom Tob ben Levi Atias), 1553. *8 (*8+2) A-L8 M10 N-2P8 2Q6 2R-3C8 3D10 (-3D10). 411 (of 412) leaves. Semi-gothic type, double column, woodcut title border and device of storm-tossed ship, 9-, 7- and 5-line woodcut initials. Folio, 290 x 193 mm. (11 3/8 x 7 5/8 in.), late sixteenth or early seventeenth century Italian(?) brown morocco, covers with large central lozenge and double outer borders composed of a flower and arcade roll-tool and blind fillets, single fleur-de-lys tool at center and floral tools at inner corners, rebacked, original clasps (lacking one metal catch), wormed; lacking final leaf (3D10) containing register and colophon, title-leaf soiled and defective (probably supplied from another copy), cut round, with some loss to border, and inset, the page-mount cut out on verso to show the dedication but partially obscuring a few letters, severe and extensive worming throughout, mainly to lower margins but occasionally affecting text, upper margins of quires II-QQ also wormed, fol. B4 defective, lacking most of 8 lines of text at bottom, supplied in manuscript facsimile, repaired tear to fol. B5, 7-inch closed tear to fol. GG4 with old repair between the text columns obscuring a few letters, occasional marginal repairs or short tears, some traces of [white, powdery] (?) insecticide in gutters, dampstaining, soiling and browning throughout . FIRST EDITION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN SPANISH. J.C. Wolf, vol. 2, p. 451, appendix vol. 3; Le Long pp. 364-68; Rodriguez de Castro, N. Antonio, pp. 359-60; Kayserling, p. 28; Adams B-125 4; Darlow and Moule, pp. 1427-1428, nr. 8467, Palau 28940; Steinschneider 1320; Stanly Rypins, "The Ferrara Bible at Press", The Library, 5th series. X/4 (1955), pp. 244-269; Iacob M. Hassán, ed., Introducción a la Biblia de Ferrara, Actas del Simposio Internacional, Sevilla, noviembre de 1991 . Madrid, CSIC, Sefarad '92, 1994, 556 pp. RARE. Known as the "Ferrara Bible", after the Italian city where it was printed between 1551 and 1553. Two Jews were responsible for the edition, the Portuguese printer Abraham Usque and the Spanish publisher Yom Tob Atias (known by their "Christian" names as Duarte Pinel and Geronimo de Vargas respectively). The Bible is of enormous interest in the Iberian world, especially in Spain, for the unusual way in which the text was translated (word for word in Spanish), as well as for the earlier (Jewish) translations upon which it was based and for its influence on later Protestant editions of the Spanish Bible. Produced by exiled Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Italy for their fellow exiles, the Ferrara Bible would enjoy great popularity among Spanish and Portuguese Jews of converso origin who knew no Hebrew and were in need of Jewish texts in the vernacular, as is shown by the numerous reprints issued in Amsterdam during the 17th and 18th centuries. An interesting feature of the Ferrara Bible is the existence of different variants. Some copies are dedicated to the Duke of Ferrara, and the colophon is dated "1553", with the names of the editors in their "Christian" form; others bear the Jewish date of 5513, the editors appear in the dedication and the colophon with their Jewish names, and the dedication is to "doña Gracia Naci", the wealthy and influential patron of the Iberian Jews in Italy. Furthermore, there are three variants for the translation of Isaiah vii:14: virgen , implying a Christological interpretation of Isaiah; the "Jewish" variant moca (the Spanish term for "young woman") which deliberately excludes such a Christological reading; and alma , a simple transliteration of the original Hebrew word. The presence or absence of two inserted leaves, containing a table of the Haftarot or weekly readings, constitutes a further variant. Despite their individual significance, the fact that