Auction 41 · Lot 258

Tzeror Ha’mor [“A Bundle of Myrrh”-kabbalistic commentary to the Pentateuch]

Estimate: $600–$900
Hammer price: $650

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

SABA, ABRAHAM.

printer

Justinian-Adelkind

Place

Venice

Publication

1546

Description

Second edition. Title within elaborate floral wreathed and garlanded architectural arch. Opening word within elaborate woodcut vignette. Printer’s device on title (Yaari’s Printer’s Marks no. 16)

references

Vinograd, Venice 293; Haberman, Adelkind 25; not in Adams

summary

Exiled from his native Castile, no sooner did Saba take refuge in Oporto, Portugal, King Emanuel ordered (24th December, 1496) all Jews converted and all Hebrew books burned. Saba’s sons were forcibly baptized and his extensive library plundered. He managed to save his own works in manuscript, and buried them outside Lisbon. However in time he was forced out of Portugal altogether and escape to Fez, Morocco where he attempted to recommit from memory works he was forced to abandon in Portugal. See N.S. Leibowitz, R. Avraham Saba U'Sepharav (1936)

ff. 165 (of 166), lacking final blank. Final leaf signed by censor, stained and repaired affecting a few words, previous owner's signature in an Italian hand on on f. 63b, slight marginal worming on a few leaves, censored in a few places. Ex-library. Recent vellum-backed boards. Folio

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