Original marbled boards and quarter leather. 8vo. VII, [5], 175 / VIII, 333 pages. 23 cm. First edition. In German and Hebrew. Two volumes bound together in quarter leather and cloth, with decorative gilt lettering on backstrip. The titles of the volumes translate as: “For the knowledge of modern Hebrew poetry. A contribution to literary history, together with Hebrew inserts” And “Rabbinic anthology containing: A collection, translation and explanation of the Hebrew and Chaldean Proverbs of Sirach, Talmudic proverbs, aphorisms and maxims, together with an appendix and a funeral orations. ” Leopold Dukes was a “Hungarian historian of Jewish literature; born at Presburg, Hungary, 1810; died at Vienna Aug. 3, 1891. He studied Talmudical literature in the yeshibah of Moses Sofer, rabbi of Presburg; but his passion for Biblical studies, which found no sympathy in his native town, led him to the yeshibah of Wörzburg, where he also devoted himself to the acquisition of a secular education. After a prolonged stay at Wörzburg he returned home; but displeased with the manners of his fellow citizens, and impelled by a thirst for knowledge, he visited the principal European cities in which there were libraries containing Hebrew manuscripts. He lived successively at Munich, Tübingen, Hanover, Hamburg, Paris, Leipsic, Oxford, and then spent about twenty years in London. Dukes was an original character, a fact due probably to his solitary life and privations. His scholarship was extensive and exact, and his works cover the fields of exegesis, Haggadah, grammar, Masorah, the history of literature, ethics, and poetry. In all of these he made many ingenious and important discoveries; and his books became indispensable supplements to those of Zunz, Rapoport, and Krochmal. ” (1906 Jewish Encyclopedia) Subjects: Jewish religious poetry, Hebrew -- History and criticism. Jewish religious poetry, Hebrew. Hebrew poetry -- History and criticism. Proverbs, Hebrew. Bible. ; O. T. ; Apocrypha. ; Ecclesiasticus. ; Hebrew. ; Selections. ; 1844.; Bible. ; O. T. ; Apocrypha. ; Ecclesiasticus. ; Aramaic. ; Selections. ; 1844.; Talmud. ; Selections. ; Hebrew & German. Cloth previously rebacked with tape. Pages very lightly foxed throughout. Pages very clean and fresh. Good condition. (GER-42-32)