Tur, Orach Chaim

EXTREMELY RARE. THE SECOND DATED INCUNABLE, published only a few months following the first dated Hebrew book (see Lot 8). In actuality, the printing of this Tur may have begun prior to the Rashi, but because of its larger size it was completed a few months later. As the reknowned Russian Orientalist Daniel Chwolson writes, "because of its size, we can assume that the time it took to print [the Tur] extended over two years...” Both Moses Marx in his article in his brother's festschriften and Alexander Marx who states in the JTS Register 1929-30, p.149 agree “... that in all probability [the Tur] represents the very first Hebrew book that came off the press...such a book is exceedingly rare. Indeed, there is only one complete copy known to exist,...in the Turin library...for several generations the property of the printer’s family.” Not in JNUL (only a facsimile copy); not in Schocken; not in the Jacob Lowy Collection in the National Library of Canada; Marx 65 (the HUCA copy also contains only one leaf). For more information on this important early Hebrew printing press and the personalities surrounding this production, see D. Nissim, “Gli Ebrei a Piove di Sacco e la prima tipografia ebraica” in La rassegna mensile di Israel XXXVIII (1972), pp. 1-12. See also D. Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy, pp. 22-6. As to the qualilty of the printing, Chwolson states ”...our contemporary printers would freely testify that even today when the art of printing is very advanced, it would be impossible to print an edition of a book more praiseworthy than that of the Turim...The external beauty of the Turim can still be used as a model for printers...” Cited and translated by M.J. Heller, Printing the Talmud: A History of the Earliest Printed Editions (1992) p. 53