(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN)

AUCTION 12 | Tuesday, March 13th, 2001 at 1:00

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

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Lot 257

(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN)

Masechta Nidah. With commentaries by Rashi, Tosaphoth etc. ff. 88. Neat repair to title and f.2. [Vinograd, Hanau 25; Rabinowicz, pp. 85-91; JNUL copy incomplete]. 1618. * Seder Taharoth. With commentary of Moses Maimonides and Shimon ben Abraham of Sens. ff. 163. [Vinograd, Hanau 29; Rabinowicz, pp. 85-91]. 1620. Lightly browned, dampstained in places, previous owners’ inscriptions on front paste-down, verso and recto of first title and on rear free-endpaper. Contemporary blind-stamped vellum boards, spine in compartments, lacking clasps and hinges, gently rubbed. Folio

Hanau: Hans Jakob Hanau v.d.

Est: $3,000 - $4,000

Although printed in Hanau, these Tractates were included in the Lublin 1617-39 Talmud edition. This printing was delayed by numerous hardships, including the Lublin press’s financial difficulties, the Thirty Years War and an outbreak of the Plague which raged throughout Poland. By contrast, Hans Jakob Hanau had established his press at Hanau in 1610 and by 1620 had published several Hebrew works, including Tractate Nidah in 1618 and Seder Taharoth in 1620. Taking note of this, the beleaguered Lublin printers of the Talmud, sent Joshua b. Israel to Hanau to arrange for the purchase of all the Hanau Tractates printed for inclusion in the Lublin Talmud. The printers of Lublin and Hanau came to an agreement to avoid competition which would only result in reduced profits for. Indeed, those Tractates already printed in Hanau were not reprinted in Lublin. See M.J. Heller, The Printing of the Talmud (1992) pp. 354-357.