Historia Judaica, res Judaeorum ab eversa aede Hierosolymitana, ad haec fere tempora usque, complexa. (A History of the Jews, from the Destruction of the Temple until Nearly the Present Day) [FIRST LATIN VERSION of SHEVET YEHUDAH, an OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT of RENAISSANCE HEBREW LITERATURE]

Amsterdam: Pieter Niellius, 1651. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Small quarto. [aster.]-2[aster.]4 A-3M4 (= 240 leaves). [16], 464pp. Contemporary Dutch vellum (very slightly bowed) panelled in blind with central stamped vignette, spine with raised bands and elegant calligraphic title. Title vignette depicting the arms of Amsterdam. A few old marginal annotations. Various old library stamps at title, and bottom margins of two text leaves (that on the final leaf bleeds through to text on recto). A very good copy, text clean and fresh throughout, attractively bound.

First Latin edition of this late medieval chronicle of Jewish history, "one of the outstanding achievements of Hebrew literature in the Renaissance" (Enc. Jud.), reprinted in 1680 under the Hebrew title, Shevet Yehudah (The Tribe of Judah). First published in Hebrew at Adrianople in 1554, it was followed by various Hebrew or Yiddish (Judaeo-German) editions prior to Gentius' version; a Spanish version appeared at Amsterdam in 1640.

During the 1520s, Solomon ibn Verga (1460-1554) wrote his Shevet Yehudah (The Tribe of Judah), a compilation of accounts of the persecutions undergone by Jews from the destruction of the Second Temple until his own day. At times, the author intersperses the historical account with disputations and deliberations, of which some are authentic and others imaginary. The author drew his historical material from Josippon, the Sefer ha-Kabbalah of Abraham ibn Daud, from the narrative of Nathan ha-Babli, and from Maimonides' letters including Iggeret Teiman. He also utilized a brief Hebrew chronicle dealing with the general expulsions and religious persecutions, probably that of Profiat Duran and consulted the writings Isaac Abrabanel. For his own period, he mentions some of the events which he heard of or witnessed and for which he is sometimes the only source. The work has special importance in the annals of Jewish historical thought. The thoughts and reflections which the author interweaves in his imaginary discussions, that is in the literary and not the historical section of the work, reflect his dissatisfaction with the traditional outlook and opinions of the Middle Ages.

The Orientalist and diplomat Georg Gentius (1618-1687) was born in Dhame, Saxony and came to study with Heinsius, De Dieu, Golius, and L'Empereur in Leiden, as well as the rabbis of Amsterdam. Among the latter, Menasseh ben Israel respected Gentius for the courtesy he displayed in his scholarly and personal dealings with the Jews, and asked him to complete a Latin translation of the Shevet Yehudah which he himself had begun. With this publication, dedicated to the Hamburg consuls, Gentius created a larger public for one of the most fascinating historical works of the Hebrew Renaissance, [and] heralded a new era in Jewish history by its critical and empirical approach to the phenomena of history.

Provenance: old entry of "Nicol. Nonnea D." at title leaf. References: EJ 8:1203-05 (noting the various editions, along with Steinschneider 6982). Fürst 3:474. A. Katchen, Christian Hebraists and Dutch Rabbis, esp. 247-68: Discussion of Gentius leads into Shevet Yehudah. A.A. Neuman, "The Shebet Yehudah and Sixteenth Century Historiography" [in:] Louis Ginzberg Jubilee Volume, English Section (NY, 1945), 253-73.