The Guide of the Perplexed of Maimonides (Volume 3)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1885. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... PREFACE. In presenting the third and last volume of the Translation of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed, I will briefly review the literature connected with this book, viz.: --I. The Arabic Text; II. Translations; III. Commentaries; IV. Controversy concerning it. I. The Arabic Text.--The editio princeps, the only edition of the original text of the Guide (in Arabic, JXlil, or Dalalat al-'halrin), was undertaken and executed by the late S. Munk. Its title is: Le Guide des faris, traiti de ThMogie et de Philosophic par Moise ben Maimon, publii pour la premiere fois dans Voriginal Arabe, et accompagnd d'une traduction Frangaise et de notes critiques, UtUraires et explicatives, par S. Munk (Paris, 1850-1866). The plan was published, 1833, in Reflexions sur le culte des anciens Hibreux (La Bible, par S. Cahen, vol. iv.), with a specimen of two chapters of the Third Part. The text adopted has been selected from the several MSS. at his disposal with great care and judgment. Two Leyden MSS. (cod. 18 and 221), various MSS. of the BiblioMque Nationale (No. 760, very old; 761 and 758, written by E. Saadia ibn Danan), and some MSS. of the Bodleian Library -were consulted. In the notes which accompany the French translation, the various readings of the different MSS. are discussed with such completeness that the student of the Dalalat al-'ha'irin is spared the trouble of consulting the MSS., and he will find little to add by consulting those MSS. which were not yet known or not accessible to Munk. At the end of the third volume a list is added b of Variantes des Manuscrits Arabes et des deux Versions Hebraiques.1 The library of the British Museum possesses two copies of the Arabic text; the one Or. 1423 is complete, beautifully written, with explanatory notes in ...