Shailoth Uteshuvoth [responsa]

AUCTION 14 | Tuesday, November 13th, 2001 at 1:00

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

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Lot 281

MEDINA, SAMUEL DE (MaHaRaSHDa”M )

Shailoth Uteshuvoth [responsa]

Three volumes. Title pages within decorative woodcut architectural borders incorporating printer’s device (cf. Yaari no. 48). Includes Responsum 190 (Vol. I pp. 127-8) concerning Gentile servants present in original format (a later issue censored this passage) Vol I (Orach Chaim & Yoreh De’ah): ff. 16, 21, 168. Dampstained, paper repair to title page slightly affecting woodcut, first few leaves remargined. Later tan mottled, rubbed, lower cover detatched. Vol II (Even Ha’ezer): ff. 16, 204. Lightly dampstained, last few leaves repaired with few words provided in manuscript, inscription on front-free endpaper. Later blind-ruled tan mottled-calf, rubbed, rebacked. Vol III (Choshen Mishpat): ff. 320. Lacking ff. 36 (i. e. 35) introductory leaves. Few light stains in places, previus owner’s inscription on f. 1. Recent half-morocco. * WITH: Another copy of Vol. II (Even Ha’ezer): ff. 16, 204. Light stains in places, neat marginal repair to final leaf, marginalia. Recent morocco-backed cloth, gently rubbed at extremities. Folio. Together, four volumes. Vinograd, Salonika 130, 131 and 139; Mehlman 756; not in Adams

Salonika: Abraham Joseph Bat-Scheba 1594-1595

Est: $2,000 - $3,000

PRICE REALIZED $7,000

Volume II (Even Ha’ezer) contains the signature of Solomon Hirschel on front-free end paper. Responsa no.2 (p. 4a) contains a lengthy marginal note by Tzvi Hirsch Berlin with his initials. Volume III (Choshen Mishpat ) contains the signature of Yair Chaim Bacharach (the Chavoth Yair) on p.1. A further inscription records this volume was purchased from the “Rabanit of R. Chaim of Worms” and signed by Liva Judah ben Samson of Metz, 1691. This inscription is significant in corroborating that Bacharach’s wife was forced to sell her husband’s library in order to survive, having fled Worms for Metz due to the onslaught of Louis XIV’s armies. See D. Kaufmann, Jair Chayim Bachrach, JQR, vol.III, pp.499-501 and EJ, IV col. 48 Samuel de Medina was one of the outstanding Halachic decisors of the 16th century. The Yeshiva he founded in Salonika (which was supported by the noble Donna Gracia Mendes-Nasi) gave rise to several famous scholars from throughout the Ottoman Empire. See M.S. Goodblatt, Jewish Life in Turkey in the XVIth Century, as Reflected in the Legal Writings of Samuel de Medina (1952). For a detailed study of this work and biography of the author see: L. Bornstein, Maphteach Le’ Shut R. Shmuel de Medina (1979). For a survey including computerized charts comparing the various editions of this work, see Y. S. Spiegel, Al Shtei Hamahadurot shel Teshuvot R. Shmuel de Medina in: Atarah Le-Chaim (Dimitrovsky Festschrift, 1999) pp.501-533