![]() Often publishers looked for the cheapest way of printing. Why did the publishers and printers of both catalogues decide to print the Hebrew text together with a Latin translation? In fact, the more extensive the catalogue, the more expensive the production. Like the title pages, the Hebrew books in the catalogue are listed with a Latin translation in the column next to the Hebrew title, as can be seen in the illustration. These are followed by 49 books in Spanish and Portuguese, and four Latin books. ![]() Besides 373 Hebrew items, Aboab owned eighteen Hebrew manuscripts. It is unclear who of these two men (or both?) held the auction on the 15th of July 1693, that took place in the house of the deceased rabbi. The sale of Aboab da Fonseca’s collection was managed by two persons: on the one hand the catalogue was printed by the Jewish printer David de Castro Tartas, and on the other hand the catalogue was distributed by the non-Jewish printer and bookseller Abraham Wolfgangh. Only one-fifth of the collection contains Hebrew books after the Hebrew section the catalogue continues with Latin (more than 400 books), Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian books. The sale of circa 1200 books was held on the third of March 1693 in his bookshop on the Rokin. Rabbi Abas’ collection and catalogue was published, printed, and sold by the Daniel van den Dalen, a non-Jewish bookseller. Nevertheless, the catalogues were produced by different publishers, printers, and booksellers, both Christian and Jewish. Stylistically, the title pages look very similar: they start with a Hebrew text followed by a Latin translation. “Luah sefarim mi-leshonot we-hokhmot shonot Catalogus variorum atque insignium in quavis facultate & lingua, librorum ” Image via Google Booksīoth the catalogues state the same Hebrew and Latin phrase on its title pages announcing the different languages and subjects of the books: Let’s have a closer look at these catalogues.įigure 1: Title page of the catalogue listing the collection of Isaac Aboab da Fonseca. For example, in the case of these two catalogues it is interesting that they contain Latin translations of the Hebrew text. ![]() Not only can they give us an idea how a seventeenth-century library of a Sephardic rabbi looked like, but they also show us the peculiarities of early modern book printing. These catalogues are interesting in many ways. They record the collections of two Sephardic rabbis who passed away in the same year: Samuel ben Isaac Abas and Isaac Aboab da Fonseca. Two early private library catalogues belonging to Jewish owners were printed in Amsterdam in 1693. Some decades later, during the seventeenth century, the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam followed the Dutch example, when they issued their first book sales catalogues. At the end of the sixteenth century the first book sales catalogues of private libraries were published in the Dutch Republic. ![]()
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