Moïse

1642 · réf. 48836 — Amsterdam: Joan and Cornelis Blaeu 1642. Second edition. Hardcover. Very good. Sammelband of two works jointly issued the latter in two parts quarto. 12 174 1 errata 1 blank; 12 732 pp. 353-360 repeated xvii addenda 19 index x addenda 28 index 1 emendanda 1 blankpp. All four addenda and indices to the De theologia gentili bound following the second part. Each work with woodcut printer's device at title; occasional woodcut lettrines; printed marginalia. De idololatria with Hebrew text and Latin translation in parallel columns interspersed with Latin notes. Contemporary vellum lightly soiled manuscript title at spine intermittant light dampstain largely confined to first work else crisp clean and amply margined. Collation: I. asterisk4 2asterisk2 A-Y4 = 94 leaves; II. asterisk4 2asterisk2 A-2P4 2Q-4Y4 4Z2 asterisk-4asterisk4 5asterisk2 cross-5cross4 = 414 leaves 2Y-2Y4 repeated. Re-issue of the first edition 1641 of the first two books of four of G. J. Vossius' De theologia gentili with new preliminaries including an Elegy written by Caspar Barlaeus on the occasion of the death of Gerhard's son Dionysius dated IV Kal. Novembris MDCXXXIII 1633 and a preface by another of Vossius' sons Isaac; along with an edition of the Hebrew text of Maimonides' treatment of the laws of idolotry in the first book of the Mishneh Torah with accompanying Latin translation by Dionysius Vossius. "The work has a two-fold aim. In the first place it is a Theologia gentilis. Of this the subtitle says that the work treats. the origin and history of heathen mythologies and cult forms. But at the same time the book is a Physiologia christiana a study 'de naturae mirandis quibus homo adducitur ad Deum' an account as complete as possible of the rich diversity of all creation that in the inention of the creator must serve to reveal to man the greatness of God. It is simultaneously an ambitiously arranged textbook of mythology a summary of what was written about nature in all its manifestations up until Vossius' time and finally also a first specimen of what would be done profusely in the eighteenth century a book on the natural knowledge of God" Rademaker. Provenance: The manuscript entry "Jan de Wind. 17 april An. 1697.". References: J. I. Dienstag "Christian Translators of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah into Latin" in: Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume 31 De idololatria. Fuks/Fuks-Mansfeld 202 De idololatria ed. 1641 noting that there exist copies without the Hebrew text. The 1641 ed. contains no preliminaries after the title. Katchen Christian Hebraists and Dutch Rabbis esp. pp.24-25. Rademaker Life and Work of G.J. Vossius Assen 1981 no. 24: "In his last large work the Theologia gentilis. he dared to make full use of Scaliger's chronological innovations" 185. For more detailed commentary see: pp. 306-310. For Dionysius see 163f. Joan and Cornelis Blaeu hardcover