PRATENSIS, FELIX. Very little is known of this famous editor of the editio princeps of Born berg's Rabbinic Bible beyond that he was born a Jew, was corrector of the press in Bomberg's famous printing-office, embraced Christianity in Rome 1513, was created Magister Theologus 1523, and that he died in 1539. The Rabbinic Bible, which immortalised him, was published in four parts, Venice 1516-17, four years after his em bracing Christianity ; and besides the Hebrew text contains as follows : i. In the Pentateuch, the Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, and the commentaries of Rashi.
ii. The Prophets, the Chaldee paraphrase, and the commentaries of Kimchi.
iii. The Hagiographa, the Chaldee paraphrase, and Kimchi's commentary on the Psalms, the Chal dee paraphrase and Ibn Jachja's commentary on Proverbs, the Chaldee paraphrase and Nachmani des and Farissol's commentaries on Yob; the re puted Chaldee paraphrases of Joseph the Blind and Rashi's commentary on the Five 111iplloth ; Levi b. Gershom's commentary on Daniel; Rashi's and Simon Darshan's "S) commentary on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles, the latter con sisting of excerpts from the Jalkut Shimoni [CARA ; MIDRASH]. Appended to the volume are the Tar
gum Jerusalem on the Pentateuch, the Second Targum on Esther, the variations between Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, the differences between the Eastern and Western Codd., Aaron b. Asher's Dissertation on the Accents, Maimonides' thirteen articles of faith [MAtmoNtnEs], the six hundred and thirteen precepts [EbucATioN], a Table of the Parshoth and Haphtaroth, both according to the Spanish and German ritual. Considering that this was the first effort to give some of the Masoretic apparatus, it is no wonder that the work is imper fect, and that it contains many blunders. Pratensis also published a Latin translation of the Psalms, with annotations, first printed at Venice 1515, then Hazenau 1522, Basle 1526. Comp. Wolf, Bib liotheca Hebreca,ii. 363; iii. 935, seg. ; Masch's ed. of Le Long's Bibliotheca Sacra, i. 96, seg. ; Stein schneider, Calalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bod leian, col. b, 2I11, seg.-C. D. G.