1841 — Octavo. Pp. 359, (4). Handsome vignette illustration at end of approbations and introduction. Old stamps. Hardcover, modern cloth, shelf number on sine. A very good copy. ~ First part of three, complete in its own. Second edition, printed in the same year as the first edition. To this edition, which is practically identical to the first, a decorative title-page has been added, with a phrase from the Book of Job printed on verso. Also added here is a Rabbinical Approbation, "Words of Praise from The Wise Men of the Censor of Warsaw", as well as a 4-page Subscribers' list, bound at the end, which are not present in the earlier edition. Written in Hebrew, mostly in Rashi script. Joseph Schönhak was born at Tiktin, 1812; died at Suwalki, 1870. He led a retired life, devoting his time to writing and study. He was the author of "Ha-Mashbir" or "Aruk he-Hadash" (Warsaw 1858). His "Toldath Haaretz" (Toledot ha-Arez) is a natural history in three parts. The subjects are arranged and classified, and a full description of each is given as to color, form, and habitat. Those that are mentioned in the Bible are given book, chapter, and verse; and so with those mentioned in the Talmud. The "Ha-Masbir" is an Aramaic-German rabbinical dictionary, based on Nathan ben Jehiel's "Aruk" ("Hamiluim oder Masbir Hachadasch. Aramäisch-rabinisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Ergenzung zu dem Hamasbir oder Aruch" Warsaw 1869.) His "Sefer ha-Milluim" was published in Warsaw in 1869 ("Sefer Ha-Miluim Le-Aruch: A dictionary to the Talmud and Midrashim, based on the order of the Aruch, with clarification of readings and sources from the Babylonian and Palestian Talmuds, the Tannaitic Midrahsim (.)" was reprinted 1978, Jerusalem, Makor.) Bibliography: Ha-Maggid, 1870, No. 49; Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, 1866. See also Isidore Singer and Julius Gottlieb: The Jewish Encyclopedia. Rare.
