Likutei Shik’chah U’peah [“Gleanings” - Kabbalistic commentary to Aggadic portions of the Talmud].

Auction 94 | Thursday, June 17th, 2021 at 11:00am
Rare & Excellent Hebrew Printed Books: From the Library of Arthur A. Marx

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Lot 133
ELIMELECH, ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH (ALMALEK/ELMALEH).

Likutei Shik’chah U’peah [“Gleanings” - Kabbalistic commentary to Aggadic portions of the Talmud].

<<FIRST EDITION.>> Title set within woodcut architectural arch with the printer’s device of an armillary sphere resting on a scroll with a verse from Psalm 130:5 (Yaari, 22). Signatures of previous owners on title. ff. (2), 40. Stained in places. Recent boards. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Ferrara 41.

Ferrara: Abraham ibn Usque 1556

Est: $3,000 - $4,000
PRICE REALIZED $3,000
This compedium of kabbalistic writings includes the (non-attributed) commentary of Spanish medieval kabbalist Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona on selected aggadic portions; Joseph ben Chaim's commentary on the Ten Sefiroth; and Joseph Gikatilla's treatise on enigmatic kabbalistic themes. It is unclear why Almalech concealed R. Ezra ben Solomon’s identity as the author of parts of the commentary in this work. For a detailed analysis of the fragments attributed to R. Ezra, see: I Tishby, Perush Ha’agadoth LeRav Azriel (1945). p.12. Likely a Spanish exile, Abraham ben Judah Almalech lived in Pesaro, Italy, in the later half of the 15th-century. Little biographical information is known of him, although a few autobiographical notes appear in the preface to the present work.