Tephilah le-Moshe [sermons and homilies]

AUCTION 34 | Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 1:00

Exemplary Hebrew Books: The Library of Joseph Gradenwitz, Esq.

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

<Previous Lot

/150

Next Lot>

Lot 7

ALMOSNINO, MOSES.

Tephilah le-Moshe [sermons and homilies]

FIRST EDITION. A wide-margined copy. Inscriptions on title include Shimshon Cohen Modon, (author of Kol Musar,1725) with his scattered marginalia; signature of Yoseph ibn Shushan on f. 2a ff. 76. Occasional stains, censors signature on final leaf, lower corner of f. 50 torn. Magnificent gilt-tooled diced green morocco with gilt dentelles and tan doublures. Sm. 4to Vinograd, Salonika 63; Mehlman 900; not in Adams

Salonika: Joseph Ya’avetz 1563

Est: $2,000 - $3,000

PRICE REALIZED $2,800

Born in Salonika, Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (c. 1515-c. 1580) hailed from a distinguished Jewish family originally from the Spanish town of Aragon. He was renowned for his knowledge of rabbinical matters and for his scholarship in the sciences, particularly natural physics and astronomy. In 1565, he formed a delegation to petition Sultan Selim II for a confirmation of the privileges previously granted to the Salonika Jews in 1537. His efforts procured a favorable decision and in 1568 the Salonika community were granted the status of a self-governing entity, a prerogative it enjoyed for centuries thereafter. See EJ, II cols. 669-71