FIRST EDITION. On front blank, owner's inscription, “Samuel Hai…Yeshari”m [560/1800].” Title surrounded by decorative border in which are visible three cupid-like figures. Numerous scholarly marginalia and corrigenda. Interesting variants: Bot. f.61v our version reads correctly, “Ha-Rashb”a asar be-yom tov ner shel avtalah. Ma'aseh hayah be-Colonia she-afu pashtida le-chatchilah me-yom tov la-chavero.” Whereas the copy of JTSA reads incorrectly, “Ha-Rashb”a asar be-yom tov ner shel t-taleh. Ma'aseh hayah be-Colonia she-afu pashtida le-chatchilah le-av me-chaveiro.” Another variant is the first word of f.91v; our version reads “ha-tok'in.” The JTSA version is superior: “she-tok'in.” On f.105r the opening word “Vayehi” is foliated. On final page, censor's signature, “Aless. scipione.” Several words (“avodah zarah”) censored on f.109v. Slight marginal tear on f.115 (paper repaired). On ff. 139r.-140r., 143v., several words (“goy”) censored. Another word censored is “Ha-Talmud.” The order of our copy differs considerably from that of JTSA. In the JTSA copy the introduction to Hilchoth Shechitah (ff.105-108) is bound out of order and appears after the indices as ff.173-176. In our copy, the order of the indices are out of sequence but are complete. After the indices, we have two leaves beginning “Ha-Aluf ha-mefo'ar be-chol ha-dor” and ending “ra'uy limchok ha-kol.” These two leaves appear at the very end of the JTSA copy. We then have four leaves beginning “Hineh ra'ithi eth asher nith'orer ha-aluf kmh”r Ya'akov Landa” and concluding “Shlomo Chaim Kohen Hedyot”. These 4 leaves appear as ff.183-186 in the JTSA copy. We then have seven leaves beginning with a foliated “Vayehi be-arba'im shanah ba-chamishi be-shishah sar la-chodesh…goy she-shavath chayav mithah aval ytisrael zocheh le-chay…” These 7 leaves are ff. 173-179 in the JTSA copy
ff. (185). Opening leaf stained with minimal loss to border, inconsequential stains in places. 19th-century calf. Sm.4to Vinograd, Naples 15; Goff 68; Goldstein 73; Offenberg 82; Steinschneider, p. 1225, no. 5564, 1; Thes. A67; Wineman Cat. 40. Not in Cambridge University
Naples: Azriel ben Joseph Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser 1491-2
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
PRICE REALIZED $152,000
FINE, COMPLETE, WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF THIS IMPORTANT SOURCE OF ASCHKENAZIC HALACHA.
The Agur is the first book to contain rabbinic haskamoth (approbations). It is graced with the encomia of Nethanel ben Levi of Jerusalem and David ben Judah Messer Leon. The Agur is also the second Hebrew book printed in the lifetime of the author
The work contains fourteen hundred and thirty nine sections, following the order of the Tur. It deals largely with ritual, the laws of Sabbath and the Festivals. The author’s purpose was to add to the decisions of the later German scholars, such as Jacob Moelin (Mahari”l) and Israel Isserlein, which were omitted by Jacob ben Asher in his Tur. The Agur was the last rabbinic code written by a German scholar before the Shulchan Aruch was compiled.
