Sepher ha-Mikach ve-ha-Mimkar [Treatise on Commercial Transactions]

HAI BEN SHERIRA

Giovanni di Gara

Venice

1602

FIRST EDITION. Title within elaborate wreathed architectural arch. On f.3r. stamp of the collector and scholar Isaac b. Jacob Mordecai Hirschensohn of Jerusalem

Vinograd, Venice 950; Habermann, di Gara 214

A code of practice for Jewish merchants by R. Hai Gaon, who was the last of the great Geonim of Mesopotamia. It was translated from the Arabic original (Kitab al-Shira wa-al-Baye) by R. Isaac al-Barceloni. Included as an appendix, is a brief formulary for contracts which is probably the most ancient in existence. It includes a “Sepher Mashcon” (Contract of Loan) which shows the methods of Jewish money-lenders. See EJ, Vol. VII, col. 1131