Sepher Halachoth Rav Alfas [Rabbinic code]. Vol. III [Nezikin] only (of 3).

AUCTION 66 | Thursday, November 19th, 2015 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Ceremonial Objects and Graphic Art

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Lot 117

ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB (RI”F).

Sepher Halachoth Rav Alfas [Rabbinic code]. Vol. III [Nezikin] only (of 3).

With Mordechai and commentaries. Title pages within woodcut architectural borders, opening words within white-on-black decorative woodcut vignettes. <<EXTENSIVE SCHOLARLY MARGINALIA by R. Samuel Sha’ar Aryeh of Mantua.>> ff. 392. (Shaarei Shavuoth section wanting - some copies contain final section of Shaarei Shavuoth ff. 9,(1) which was appended to copies of this edition after the colophon on f. 392). Title page laid down, with signatures including Shimshon ben HaGaon (Azriel Dayana?), previous owner’s marks, words censored and rewritten (f. 361b), some staining, paper repairs, wormed in places. Modern calf. Large folio. Vinograd, Venice 34; Haberman, Bomberg 69; St. 5310, 2 (ed. quoque rara).

Venice: Daniel Bomberg 1522

Est: $4,000 - $6,000

PRICE REALIZED $4,800

The RI”F is the most significant Halachic compendium prior to the Yad HaChazakah of Maimonides and remains an important and widely admired Code. R. Joseph Karo regarded Alfasi’s scholarship with the utmost respect and determined the laws in his Shulchan Aruch upon his authority. The signature of the author of most of these extensive marginal notes, R. Samuel Sha’ar Aryeh bar Elisha is found on f. 297a. The Sha’ar Aryeh (Portaleone) family produced a number of great rabbinical scholars, including the renowned physician and scholar, Abraham Portaleone, author of Shiltei HaGiborim (Mantua, 1612).