Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
SEFER MESILLAT YESHARIM (THE PATH OF THE UPRIGHT), RABBI MOSES HAYYIM LUZZATTO, AMSTERDAM: NAPHTALI HERZ LEVI ROFE, 1740
Auction Closed
November 20, 08:47 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
SEFER MESILLAT YESHARIM (THE PATH OF THE UPRIGHT), RABBI MOSES HAYYIM LUZZATTO, AMSTERDAM: NAPHTALI HERZ LEVI ROFE, 1740
69 folios (5 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.; 150 x 95 mm) (foliation: [1-6], 1-63) on paper. Title within a border of printer’s ornaments; decorative elements on ff. 3r, 53v, 54v, 63r-v. Slight scattered staining; minor foxing toward front; some gutters repaired or reinforced; a few small wormtracks in lower-outer corners, repaired toward front and rear and mostly affecting only individual letters; one small wormtrack near gutters of ff. 25-63, repaired toward rear and mostly affecting only individual letters; upper-outer corners of ff. 29, 37 and upper edges of ff. 35-36 repaired; tear on f. 63 repaired. Modern blind-tooled tan calf, lightly scratched; spine in three compartments with raised bands; title, place, and date lettered in blind on spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
The first edition of a classic work of Jewish ethics.
Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzatto (Ramhal; 1707-1746/1747), a child prodigy and scion of one of the most distinguished Italian families, would with time become a celebrated kabbalist, ethicist, rhetorician, and Hebrew poet. His best-known work is Sefer mesillat yesharim, an ethical treatise organized according to the “ladder of saintliness” expounded by Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair in the closing mishnah of Tractate Sotah (9:15). The book, which Ramhal edited after moving to Amsterdam in 1735, guides the reader in how to attain religious and moral perfection and how to confront any obstacles along the path. Due to its simple style and systematic approach to the topic, Sefer mesillat yesharim achieved immense popularity, going through dozens of printings and translations into numerous languages down to the present day. This, the editio princeps, includes front- and backmatter often omitted from subsequent editions.
Provenance
Abraham Prins (title page)
Literature
Naphtali Ben-Menahem, Kitvei rabbi mosheh hayyim luzzatto: reshimah bibli’ogerafit shel sifrei defus ve-kitvei yad (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1951), 69-70 (no. 127).
David Sclar, “‘Like Iron to a Magnet’: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence” (Ph.D. diss., The City University of New York, 2014).
Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, Sifrei yesod: sifrei ha-yesod shel ha-sifriyyah ha-yehudit ha-toranit (n.p.: Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, 2019), 133 (no. 475).
Vinograd, Amsterdam 1521