History of New India and Mexico [1553]; Hebrew Version [1568] by Yosef Ha-Kohen [Ms. Alliance Israélite Universelle, Paris]

Gómara, Francisco López de; Yosef Ha-Kohen (editor and translator); Moshe Lazar (editor). History of New India and Mexico [1553]; Hebrew Version [1568] by Yosef Ha-Kohen [Ms. Alliance Israélite Universelle, Paris]. Lancaster, CA.: Labyrinthos, 2002. First critical edition. 8vo. XXIX, [5], 566pp. Original illustrated wraps. Photographic frontispiece of Henry J. Leir. Sixth volume in the “Henry J. Leir Library of Sephardica: Text and Studies” series. The final version of “Sefer ha-Indiah ha-Hadasah we-Sefer Qortes” which is a Hebrew translation by Yosef Ha-Kohen of López de Gómara’s work chronicling the conquest of the New World by the Spanish. Ha-Kohen was among the first to discover Gómara’s “La historia general de las Indias” and “Historia de la Conquista.” Animated by his desire to bring it to the attention of a Jewish readership, Ha-Kohen set out to translate both volumes into Hebrew so that his fellow Jews would learn that “there are many lands in the world where the ships of King Solomon never ventured.” Includes four facsimile pages of Ha-Kohen’s manuscript, which he finished the year that de Gómara died. Introduction in English; text in Hebrew. Fine condition. vg. Softcover. (27129) $45