farfel_n08_132_559

The Renaissance interest in the classical languages
led to the establishment of "tri-lingual" colleges,
where the study fo Hebrew was on a par with that of
Latin + Greek. The humanist printers attempted to
supply the needs of universities throughout Europe.
The presses of Frober at Basel + Estienne at Paris
stand out in the history of Christian Hebrew typography.
In 1539 R. Estienne began to print in installments
the books of the Hebrew Bible, to comprise the 1st
complete ed. of the Hebrew text published in France.
The 1st books issued, the Minor Prophets,
include Rabbi David Kimhi's (Kimchi) (Of Narbonne, Provence
1160?-1235?) commentary. Francois Vatable
professor of Hebrew at the Univ. of Paris,
edited the text.
Berkowitz #167+8 R. Estienne 1539-44
24 parts in 4 vol.; 228, 294, 304, 260 leaves
respectively. 24x15.8 cm.
Each part has a separate title page in Hebrew +
Latin with Estienne's olive tree device. Text in large square
type; notes in a more cursive Rashi type; text
quotations in the notes in a small square type. The
large type was cut by Jean Arnoul, called Le Picard*
The text is related to Bomberg's 2nd Rabbinic
Bible but departs fewquently from it.
* and the other 2 fonts might be attributed to the
same hand.