Siddur Tefillot. A Woman’s Ladino Prayer Book [Paris B.N., Esp. 668; 15th c.]

Lazar, Moshe (Editor); Robert Dilligan (Technical Editor). Siddur Tefillot. A Woman’s Ladino Prayer Book [Paris B.N., Esp. 668; 15th c.]. Lancaster, Ca: Labyrinthos, 1995. Limited edition. 1/300. 4to. XXXII, [4], 266 pp. on acid-free paper. Original teal smyth-sewn clothbound with silver illustration on front cover and silver lettering on spine. Tenth volume in the “Sephardic Classical Library” series. A critical edition of the oldest Ladino prayer book, predating the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. It is also the only stand-alone woman’s prayer book preserved from the Sephardic tradition. The text survived as a pocket-size manuscript in the holdings of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris and includes those portions of the traditional Hebrew prayer book most useful to a woman for her personal daily use at home and for the occasional use on the Sabbath and festival days in the synagogue. In many places, the translator has altered verbs in the plural to singular, as well as some masculine nouns to feminine, in order to adapt the text to the individual female worshipper. The manuscript is both a literal and spontaneous translation from the Hebrew, in a spoken and dialectal language that reflects a much older Spanish-Jewish oral tradition. Preface, Introduction, Bibliography, Notes and Commentaries in English; text in romanized Ladino facing Ladino in Hebrew characters. Binding and interior in fine condition. New in publisher’s shrink wrap. Hardcover. (40466) $75