THE ARABIC ORIGINAL OF IBN SHAHIN'S BOOK OF COMFORT, KNOWN AS THE HIBBUR YAPHE OF R. NISSIM B. YA'AQOBH
New Haven, Yale University Press; Paris, P. Geuthner, 1933. Item #34478
Original Cloth. 4to. LIX, CLIV, 183 pages. 29 cm. First edition. In English and Judeo-Arabic. The manuscript of the Book of comfort. Edited from the unique manuscript by Julian Obermann.
Facsimile edition of a Judeo-Arabic manuscript. With transcription into Arabic; introduction and notes in English. Part of the Yale oriental series, Researches, XVII.
Nissim ben Jacob ben Nissim ibn Shahin (c. 990–1062), “together with Hananel b. Hushi'el, [was] the outstanding leader and talmudist of North Africa. … Hibbur me-haYeshu'ah (Ferrara, 1557), Nissim's best-known work, is a collection of Hebrew stories and folktales taken from early sources. It is designed to strengthen belief, faith, and morality among the people and to raise their spirit. This work, possibly the first prose storybook in medieval Hebrew literature, paved the way for Hebrew belletristic literature as a literary genre.
Tradition has it that Nissim dedicated the book to his father-in-law, Dunash, who is otherwise unknown, to console him in his mourning.
The first printed edition was published from an early Hebrew translation, and the Arabic text was published by J. Obermann. The Hebrew version has been frequently republished, not always according to the same translation....
The work circulated widely even before its first printing, and had a great influence on similar story collections. Ma'asiyyot she-ba-Talmud (Constantinople, 1519) was based upon it, and the Hibbur ha-Ma'asiyyot (ibid. , 1519) is an anthology of its stories. Many of the stories included by Gaster in his The Exempla of the Rabbis (1924; 19682) were taken from it” (EJ, 2007).
Subjects: Talmud - Legends. Jewish legends. Aggada - Translations into English. Folk literature, Judeo-Arabic - Translations into English.
Dampstains to margins of pastedowns, front blank endpapers, final 2 leaves and outer margins of a few other leaves as well. Stains and occlusions to rear board. Good Condition thus. (RAB-58-39-XX).
Price: $135.00