Auction 109 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Megillot and Jewish Ceremonial Art
La Guerta de Oro – Ladino – Livorno, 1778 – Original Leather Binding – One of First Secular Books Printed in Ladino – Rare
Opening: $500
Sold for: $3,000
Including buyer's premium
La Guerta de Oro, o Sea Tratenimiento Gustozo Saviozo e Provechoso [The golden garden, or an agreeable, wise and beneficial dialogue], by R. David Athias. Livorno: Vinc. Falorni, 1778. Ladino.
Original leather binding, with gilt decorations to spine.
An important Ladino work, sometimes considered the first important secular work published in this language. The book comprises wisdom, parables, and discussions on the topics of grammar, Segulot, ethics, astronomy and more. Parts of the work are written as a dialogue, in which the author addresses a friend from the East and explains the customs and manners of Europe.
The author explains in his introduction that he wrote the book because he perceived there was a paucity of Jewish literature other than Hebrew religious works.
Signature (deleted with pencil) on p. 8a: "Yaakov Doto". Inscriptions inside boards and on verso of last leaf.
On leaves 6-10, French royal decree from 1776 on the rights of Portuguese Jews who settled in France from 1550. The decree appears in French and later in Ladino.
[1] last leaf with copper engraving, with chart of Latin alphabet compared to the Hebrew one. At top of leaf, title and instructions in Ladino, in Sephardic semi-cursive script (in some copies this chart is bound between leaves 11 and 12; the engraving was produced by the author himself, whose signature appears at the edge).
21, 24-64, [3] leaves. Lacking leaves 22-23. 19.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Light wear. Worming, tears and open tears, slightly affecting text, partially repaired with paper filling. Original leather binding. Wear and defects to binding.
The present copy is bound with [2] other leaves (after leaf 64), with an advertisement for the book and table of contents.
Rare.
See: Dov HaKohen, Otzar HaSefarim BeLadino 1490-1960, no. 2635.
Matthias Lehmann, "A Livornese 'Port Jew' and the Sephardim of the Ottoman Empire", in: Jewish Social Studies Vol. 11 (2005) pp. 51-76.
Provenance: Kestenbaum, New York, June 14, 2018, Lot 201.
Books Printed in Livorno – 18th-19th Centuries
Books Printed in Livorno – 18th-19th Centuries