“A PARTICULARLY BEAUTIFUL EDITION WITH FINE ILLUSTRATIONS AND VOLVELLES FOR CALCULATIONS”

BEILIN, Eliezer ben Jacob. Sepher Ibronoth. [Astronomy and Calculations of Intercalation and the Jewish Calendar]. Offenbach: Israel ben Moses, 1722. Octavo, modern three-quarter dark brown calf, burgundy cloth boards, tan morocco spine labels. $2500.

Fifth edition of this important and scarce treatise on the Jewish calendar (the first with Himmelburg’s important appendix), with woodcut illustrations and tables, including the circular table “which facilitated the determination of holidays and other important dates.”

Eliezer ben Jacob Bellin Ashkenazi's calendar ("Ibronot") was based on the 16th-century work of Jacob Marcaria (Riva, 1561), and "improved by the addition of a circular table, which facilitated the determination of holidays and other important dates [present here]" (Jewish Encyclopedia). "The fifth [edition], published in Offenbach, is a particularly beautiful edition with fine illustrations and volvelles for calculations" (Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress, 197-98). This is the first edition to include Nathan Joshua Himmelburg's important appendix, which presents charts of Christian holidays, Saints' days, a discussion of solar leap year calculations and the differences between the Gregorian and Julian calendars. With numerous woodcut head- and tailpieces, tables, circular diagrams and a double-page intercalation diagram in the form of a pair of hands; title within woodcut architectural arch featuring Moses and Aaron. First published in Lublin in 1614-15, "extremely rare" according to Steinschneider, followed by a Lublin edition in 1640 and an edition in Frankfort on the Oder, 1691, and a fourth edition in 1720. Zedner, 221. Steinschneider 4988.

A few manuscript notations to upper margin of title page; interior quite clean. A fine copy.