Obj. ID: 37347
Jewish printed books  Arugot ha-Bosem by Shmuel ben Elchanan Ya'akov Arkibalti, Venice, 1602

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Sefer Arugat HaBosem, on wisdom of grammar and the Holy Language, by Rabbi Shmuel Arkevolti. Venice, [1602]. First edition. Fine renaissance-style title page. Many tables for instruction of grammar. Leaf 113 contains diagram “recurring cycle”.
A work on Hebrew grammar by R. Samuel ben Elhanan Jacob Archivolti (ca. 1515 - 1611). Archivolti was a student of R. Meir Katzenellenbogen (Maharam, 1473 - 1565), a corrector for the Hebrew presses in Venice, and later rabbi, av bet din, and rosh yeshivah in Padua. His students include R. Judah Aryeh (Leon) Modena (1571 - 1648) and Cardinal Marco Marino Brixiense, a Venetian inquisitor and censor who studied Hebrew with Archivolti. As reflected in Arugat ha-Bosem, his most important work, as well as several other works, Archivolti was deeply attached to the Hebrew language.
In his introduction, Archivolti bemoans the fact that Hebrew is neglected for other languages, and states that this was his motivation for writing the present book. Arugat ha-Bosem is comprised of 32 chapters dealing with issues of Hebrew grammar and verse: elements of the language, letters, verbs, declensions, rhetoric, the philosophy of Hebrew, code and vanishing script, etc. The work was well received and highly regarded, and was re-published in Amsterdam, 1630. Its last section was included by Johannes Buxtorf in his Latin translation of the Kuzari (Basel, 1660).
Title page adorned with an architectural frame including representations of Mars and Minerva. Other decorative elements consist of an attractive border around the first text word, a tail-piece at the end with figurines, and a tail-piece of florets.
The printer Giovanni di Gara (active 1564-1610) was known in Venice as the “Heir of Bomberg” not only because Bomberg instructed him in Hebrew printing, but also because he acquired most of Bomberg’s Hebrew types. He was born in Riva del Garda to Christian parents sometime between 1520 and 1530 and moved to Venice with his family as a young boy. He began working at Bomberg’s press as a child. It is believed di Gara’s first Hebrew books were printed at Bomberg’s own press, since some of them bear the phrase “in the house of Bomberg”. In other early Hebrew books, di Gara noted when he used Bomberg’s types with the phrase “with the letters of Bomberg”. Over time, this phrase came to mean ‘in the Bomberg style’.
Di Gara worked closely with the press of fellow Venetian Bragadini, as evidenced by the use of his types from 1599 to 1600 and the incorporation of his three-crown printer’s mark (di Gara’s own printer’s mark was a small single crown). Di Gara employed Jews whenever legally permitted to do so to ensure the accuracy of his Hebrew editions. Books printed under the supervision of Christian typesetters suffered from many errors, whose corrections were costly to the firm.
Di Gara’s press printed close to 300 Hebrew books from approximately 1565 until his death in 1609 (at least one Hebrew book was printed posthumously from his press in 1610). As a result of the Counter Reformation and the Roman Inquisition, Hebrew books printed in Italy were subject to examination and censorship and could not be printed without prior permission from the relevant authorities. Books subject to these restrictions had a version of the phrase “con licentia dei superiori” meaning “with permission of the superior” printed at the bottom of the title page, as may be seen in this volume.
118], [2] leaves.