Seder Meah Berachoth [select prayers, readings and poems]. According to Italian - Sephardic custom.

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 271
(LITURGY).

Seder Meah Berachoth [select prayers, readings and poems]. According to Italian - Sephardic custom.

With instructions in Hebrew and Ladino plus Kavanoth by R. Moshe Zacuto based upon the Ari za’l. <<The R. Abraham Joseph Shlomo Graziano (Ish Ger) copy>> (see below). ff. 78, (2). Lightly stained. Contemporary boards rubbed and chipped. 32 mo. Vinograd Venice 1340 (erroneously recording a later date).

Venice: Antonio Riccini-Vendramin 1663

Est: $4,000 - $6,000
PRICE REALIZED $3,500
With signature, index and note in the hand of the previous owner, R. Avraham Yoseph Shlomo Graziano with his pseudonym “Ish Ger.” His note on f. 2 stating that he purchased this volume in 1660, proves that the earlier date of publication is correct. Graziano (d. 1684) was born in Pesaro where he studied under Isaac Raphael Ventura. He lived for some time in Rome, proceeding from there to Modena where he studied under his grandfather, Nathaniel Trabot, who ordained him in 1647, therafter he served as a member of the Beth Din of Modena. His characteristic signature, Ish Ger ("a strange man") is a play on the first letters of his name and on his being a "stranger" in Modena. His leniency with regard to some local customs aroused the opposition of his contemporaries. He is known as the first collector of books and manuscripts among Italian Jews. (JE). See Abraham J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (Washington, 1991) pp. 155-156 (includes facsimile of “Ish Ger” signature and marginalia to Zohar).