RaMBa”N). Peirush HaTorah [commentary to the Pentateuch]

AUCTION 74 | Thursday, November 09th, 2017 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters & Graphic Art

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

Lot 169
MOSES BEN NACHMAN (NACHMANIDES /

RaMBa”N). Peirush HaTorah [commentary to the Pentateuch]

Third edition. Printed in Rabbinic type, without nikud. ff. 218 (of 244). Lacking the two blank leaves absent in nearly all copies, ff. 1-7, 131, 187, 230-44 all expertly reproduced in facsimile, ff. 8-19 mounted, some text affected on f. 8. Additional leaves remargined, strengthened, some corners filled, lightly soiled and stained, trace wormed. Modern crushed morocco. Folio. <> An additional copy of f. 23.4 (here f. 175) mounted with losses, provided here in separate folder.

[Naples:

Est: $12,000 - $18,000
PRICE REALIZED $30,000
See Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library - Otzroth Ya’akov, Incunables no. 39. The publication of three incunable editions of Nachmanides’ Commentary to the Pentateuch is an eloquent attestation to the immense popularity of the work. Only twenty-eight books were printed at the short-lived Hebrew press at Naples which operated from 1480-1500. No doubt the Naples craftsmen would have continued to produce fine books had not the Spanish Expulsion and the subsequent political changes for Jews throughout Europe silenced the activity of the Neapolitan Hebrew presses. See Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy, pp. 63-6. Another (complete) copy of this Nachmanides Naples edition in the possession of the Valmadonna Trust Library was exhibited in the Pierpont Morgan Library, see their catalogue: Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989) no. 13.