Igereth Shmuel [commentary to the Book of Ruth, with text, and accompanied by commentary of RaSH”I]

AUCTION 35 | Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 1:00

Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Art

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

<Previous Lot

/334

Next Lot>

Lot 88

DI UCEDA, SAMUEL

Igereth Shmuel [commentary to the Book of Ruth, with text, and accompanied by commentary of RaSH”I]

FIRST EDITION ff. (84). Light stains in places, expert marginal repairs to several leaves. Former owner’s signature on title. Modern vellum. Sm. 4to Vinograd, Const. 314; Yaari, Const. 234; Mehlman 627; M. Rosenfeld, Hebrew Printing no. 94; not in Adams

Kuru Cesme: Joseph Ascaloni for Dona Reyna, Widow of Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos 1597

Est: $5,000 - $7,000

Following the death in 1593 of the Constantinople-based Hebrew printer Solomon Jabez, Dona Reyna, widow of the illustrious Don Joseph Nasi, established a printing-press in her Palace of Belvedere in nearby Orta-Koy. For reasons unclear, the press was soon transferred to Kuru-Cesme, another suburb of Constantinople.The present work is the first Hebrew book printed in Kuru Cesme. Samuel di Uceda, author of the commentary, directed a Talmudic academy in Safed supported by the Nasi Family. In 1597, the year of the publication, he was in Constantinople to prevail upon the Duchess to continue her financial support. See Pierpont Morgan Library Catalogue, Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989), no. 49; A.J. Karp. From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (1991), pp. 167-69; and C. Roth, The House of Nasi: The Duke of Naxos (1948), pp. 217-19