Sepher Tuviah / Tobias Hebraice. Hebrew and Latin on facing pages, prepared by Fagius

(APOCRYPHA)

P. Fagius

Isny

1542

Title in Hebrew and Latin. Hebrew text with nikud. On final page, printer’s mark. (see Yaari, Hebrew Printer's Marks, 13)

Vinograd, Isny 15; Habermann, Fagius 14; not in Adams

The Book of Tobias is one of the books of the Apocrypha, which though certainly Jewish in origin, were not canonized into the Hebrew Bible, but relegated by Jewish tradition to the realm of the “sepharim chitzonim” (literally, “external books” or non-sacred literature). The books of the Apocrypha were authored in the Hellenistic period of the Second Temple. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, fragments of the original Hebrew texts have become available, confirming their source in Eretz Israel. This is one of 18 Hebrew books to issue from Fagius’ press at Isny between the years 1540-42. See Habermann, “Ha-Madpis Paulus Fagius ve-siphrei beith defuso” in: idem, Perakim be-Toldoth ha-Madpisim ha-Ivrim (1978) pp. 149-166