Likutei Shik’chah U’peah [Kabbalistic commentary to Aggadic portions of the Talmud]

AUCTION 46 | Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, & Graphic Art

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Lot 18
ALMALECH, ABRAHAM

Likutei Shik’chah U’peah [Kabbalistic commentary to Aggadic portions of the Talmud]

FIRST EDITION. Title set within woodcut architectural arch with the printer’s device of an armillary sphere resting on a scroll with a verse from Psalm 130:5 (Yaari, 22) ff. (2), 40. Few light stains in places. Modern calf. Sm. 4to Vinograd, Ferrara 41; Mehlman 1049; not in Adams

Ferrara: Abraham ibn Usque 1556

Est: $1,500 - $2,000
PRICE REALIZED $2,250
This compedium of kabbalistic writings includes the (non-attributed) commentary of Spanish medieval kabbalist Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona on selected aggadic portions; Joseph ben Chaim's commentary on the Ten Sefiroth; and Joseph Gikatilla's treatise on kabalistic subjects. It is unclear why Almalek concealed R. Ezra ben Solomon’s identity as the author of parts of the commentary in this work. For a detailed analysis of the fragments attributed to R. Ezra, see: I Tishby, Perush Ha’agadoth Le’rav Azriel (1945). p.12. Likely a Spanish exile, Abraham ben Judah Almalek lived in Pesaro, Italy, in the later half of the 15th-century. Little biographical information is known of him, although a few autobiographical notes appear in the preface to the present work.