Auction 43 · Lot 40

Tephilah le-Moshe [sermons and homilies on the merits of Torah plus a commentary on Kri'ath Shema]

Estimate: $2,000–$2,500
Hammer price: Not recorded

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

author

ALMOSNINO, MOSES.

printer

Joseph Ya’avetz

Place

Salonika

Publication

1563

Description

FIRST EDITION. A wide-margined copy. Signature of former owner in an Italian hand on title (Menachem b. Shlomo Chaim), other signatures and stamp on f. 5 (Yitzchak Yoseph Sasson)

references

Vinograd, Salonika 63; Mehlman 900

summary

Born in Salonika, Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (c. 1515-c. 1580) hailed from a distinguished Jewish family originally from the Spanish town of Aragon. He was renowned for his knowledge of rabbinical matters and for his scholarship in the sciences, particularly natural physics and astronomy. In 1565, he formed a delegation to petition Sultan Selim II for a confirmation of the privileges previously granted to the Salonika Jews in 1537. His efforts procured a favorable decision and in 1568 the Salonika community were granted the status of a self-governing entity, a prerogative it enjoyed for centuries thereafter. See EJ, II cols. 669-71

ff. 76. Index misbound but complete (f. 3 before f. 2), some staining, scattered marginalia, margins of some leaves of Index and lower right hand corner of final leaf of Corrections repaired affecting a few words. Later vellum. Sm. 4to

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