Original Jewish Medical book
Maaseh Tuviah with Author’s Portrait
Venice, 1707
Maaseh Tuviah by Rabbi Tobias Cohn. Includes pertinent information regarding diseases, remedies, and the arts of medicine and surgery with many illustrations. As well as a comprehensive philosophical work on the Upper Spheres and planets revealing that the universe is parallel to the human anatomy and ailments.
Maaseh Tuviah was among the first and most famous medical books authored by a Jewish physician, an important and unique work highly acclaimed with many detailed illustrations.
Leaf 106a features a full-page anatomical sketch of the human body. In this illustration, the author compares the human body to a multi-story house, and it is one of the most famous illustrations in Jewish literature.
The author Rabbi Tobias Cohn (1652-1729) was a 17th-18th century Polish-Jewish physician who studied medicine in the University of Padua. There, he engaged in frequent polemics with Christian students regarding Judaism and Christianity.
Hearing his colleagues’ aspersions upon Jewish faith, he authored this work to prove that although the Jewish people remain in exile, they possess great wisdom.
Complete copy includes all the 3 title pages, the author’s portrait, all illustrations, poems and leaf with censorship stamp from Padua in Italian.
Venice, 1707. First edition. [6], 158 leaves. Page size: 22 cm. Antique parchment binding.
Stefansky Sifrei Yesod #513
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