RaMBa”M). Mishneh Torah [Code of Law]

MOSES BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES).

Solomon ben Judah and Obadiah ben Moses (of Rome?)

Italy

1475-9

FIRST EDITION. Two volumes. Volume II with copious marginalia in differing hands (see description below.) The eighteenth chapter of Hilchoth Tumath Meth, missing in the text, has been pasted in by the printer (f.91r.). See Havlin’s discussion of this paste-in: S.Z. Havlin, On the Printing History of Maimonides’ Code in: Kiryath Sepher Vol. 42 (1967), pp. 509-10

Vinograd, Rome 3; Goff 76; Goldstein 9; Offenberg 87; Steinschneider, p. 1869, no. 6513-1; Thes. A17; Wineman Cat. 7a. No copy in Cambridge University; the HUC copy lacks ff.4

THE CELEBRATED “ROME” RAMBA”M. FIRST EDITION OF MAIMONIDES’ CODE, COMPLETE WITH IMPORTANT MANUSCRIPT GLOSSES BY RABAD OF POSQUIERES. This magnificent first edition is shrouded in mystery. We know of no other book where these printers co-operated. The Obadiah ben Moses in the colophon is usually associated with Obadiah of Rome, but present scholars are unsure. Isaiah Sonne noted that in contradistinction to the early Roman books with their decidedly Aschkenazic lettering, the lettering of this Mishneh Torah is Provencal veering toward Sephardi. The date of the printing is around 1475, though there is no clarity as to precisely where in Italy the edition was printed. The superior type and layout suggest that it might have been printed after the somewhat simpler Roman incunabules. Examination of the watermarks reveals the paper dates from 1474-5, but some have an eagle watermark of 1479, which suggests a later date than commonly believed. See I. Sonne, Tiyulim be-historia u-bibliografia” in: Alexander Marx Jubilee Volume (1950), p. 212, n. 7; P.Tishby, Hebrew Incunabula in: Kiryath Sepher 58:4 (1983)