(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN).

AUCTION 11 | Tuesday, November 28th, 2000 at 1:00

Important Hebrew Printed Books and Manuscripts From the Library of the London Beth Din

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Lot 147

(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN).

Masechta Gittin [Divorce]. ff. 114 (of 115). Lacking f.10. Title and opening few leaves remargined (loss of few words on f.2). [Vinograd, Venice 106; Habermann, Bomberg 107; not in Adams].1526. * Masechta Nedarim [Vows]. ff. 121. [Vinograd, Venice 128; Habermann, Bomberg 122; not in Adams; JNUL copy incomplete]. Venice, Daniel Bomberg, 1528. * Masechta Nazir [The Nazirite]. ff. 61 (ie. 69). [Vinograd, Venice 139; Habermann, Bomberg 130; Adams T-104]. 1529. * Masechta Sotah [The Suspected Adulteress]. FIRST BOMBERG EDITION. ff. 53. [Vinograd, Venice 27; Habermann, Bomberg 22; Adams T-92].1520 Stained in places. Modern morocco, gilt. Folio

Venice: Daniel Bomberg v.d.

Est: $6,000 - $9,000

PRICE REALIZED $55,000

The first edition of the Talmud sold out quickly, necessitating reissues of various tractates in 1527-30, 1538-39 and 1548. Indeed, Ya’ari, in “Sreifath HaTalmud beItalia,” in Mechkarei Sepher (1958) points out that these subsequent issues are often rarer than the early editions, since they were destroyed during the era of the burning of the Talmud. Heller, in Printing the Talmud,New York (1992) points out the often overlooked importance of the emendations in the second edition to the development of our text on the Talmud. There is much debate amoung bibliographers as to the exact date of the completion of the second edition; Rabinowicz gives 1531 for that date. Masechta Sotah was only reissued for the first time in 1548. It is likely therefore, that in assembling this hybryd group of tractates, Bomberg had remaining copies of Masechta Sotah from the first edition which he bound with the reissues of the others to complete the volume