Shulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law]. Parts I and II (Orach Chaim and Yoreh De’ah) only

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

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

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Lot 89

KARO, JOSEPH

Shulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law]. Parts I and II (Orach Chaim and Yoreh De’ah) only

THIRD EDITION. Two titles. Rashi script. On both titles three small crowns, printer’s mark of Bragadin (see Yaari, no. 18). Hebrew marginalia in old Italian hand. Part I: ff.301, lacking f.290. Title with tears, taped. Former owners’ inscriptions on title. ff.2-16 laid to size missing text provided in old Italian hand. ff.17-19 cropped too close, minor loss of text. * Part II: ff. 274 (of 279 + 1 ff.). Final leaves provided in recent facsimile. Lower portion f.24 missing, leaf laid to size. Stained throughout. Contemporary calf, rubbed.16mo Vinograd, Venice 604; Habermann, Di Gara 36

Venice: Juan di Gara for Alvise Bragadini 1574

Est: $2,000 - $3,000

PRICE REALIZED $4,000

Rare First Section (Orach Chaim) of the 1574 pocket-edition of the Shulchan Aruch. The bibliographer A. M. Habermann himself never encountered the Section Orach Chaim of the 1574 edition, but relied upon the testimony of N. Ben-Menachem, who described an incomplete copy in JTSA, New York. However, there are certain discrepancies between Ben-Menachem’s description and our copy. The wording on the title differs slightly (we do not have the words “nidpas shelishith,”), and perhaps even more significant, Ben-Menachem describes an octavo (8vo), while our copy is an sextodecimo (16mo). Since Ben-Menachem only located an incomplete copy, he was unable to provide the collation. Vinograd did not fare any better than either Habermann or Ben-Menachem, and was forced to leave unrecorded the foliation for Section Orach Chaim. See N. Ben-Menachem, “Ha-Defusim ha-rishonim shel ha-Shulchan Aruch” in: Rabbi Joseph Karo (1969), p.110, no. 7; A.M. Habermann, Giovanni di Gara (1982), pp.14-15, no. 36. The title page of this edition states specifically that it was designed “in a small volume in order that one may carry it in their breast and study it at any time and any place, while resting or traveling.” See EJ, Vol.V, col. 197