Igeret orḥot ʻolam (On the Paths of the World); Melitsah tsaḥah ʻal tseḥoḳ ha-shaḳ (On Playing Chess)

Igeret orḥot ʻolam (On the Paths of the World); Melitsah tsaḥah ʻal tseḥoḳ ha-shaḳ (On Playing Chess)

Farissol’s Igeret orḥot ʻolam, reproduced in this manuscript, is the first modern Hebrew work on geography. It reflects the author, the Jewish geographer and cosmographer, Abraham Farissol’s (ca. 1451–ca. 1525) enduring interest in the topic and is largely concerned with locating the Jewish peoples dispersed throughout the world. It includes the first mention of the New World in Hebrew when discussing the newly discovered American Indians as perhaps being one of the lost tribes of Israel. Farissol was fluent in both Italian and Latin and undoubtedly performed research in the great ducal libraries of Florence and Ferrara while working for the courts of Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–92) and Ercole I d’Este (1431–1505). He was familiar with portolan charts and drew upon accounts of Columbus’s recent journeys and to the letters of Girolamo Sernigi describing Vasco de Gama’s voyage around the Cape of Good Hope.

Authors: Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol, Bonsenior ibn Yaḥya

ca. 1525

Manuscript on paper, 36 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 499

Italy