Me’ametz Ko’ach [sermons and eulogies]

ALMOSNINO, MOSES.

Asher Parenzo for Giovanni di Gara

Venice

1588

Second edition. Printer’s devices on title and f. 225v (see Ya'ari, Hebrew Printers' Marks 18), and final leaf (Ya'ari 19; Yudlov, Hebrew Printers' Marks 3). On title, in Sephardic cursive, inscription of former owner: ("I bought it in the city of Sefrou [Morocco]…the year 1829)." Extensive marginalia in old Sephardic cursive hand (see f. 18v, signed"Pinchas Toledano;" f. 42r; f. 56r; ff. 195-196. ff. 1-233, 236. Lacks ff. 234-5. Tipped in 2 leaves of indices. Bottom portion of title wanting. f. 2 tape-repaired. Several leaves frayed. Some light stains and occasional minor worming. Later calf, distressed. 4to.

[Vinograd, Venice 726; Habermann, di Gara 102; not in Adams].

The marginalia in this copy are certainly of interest. On ff. 30v, we have a transmission from "R. Abraham Tzemach, of blessed memory, son of the great Rabbi, the Kabbalist Jacob Tzemach of blessed memory." R. Abraham Tzemach was a prominent figure in Jerusalem in the 17th-century. In the Moussaief Collection at Bar Ilan University, resides a 17th-century manuscript of R. Abraham ben Jacob Tzemach, entitled Berith Abraham (Ms. Moussaief 17), consisting of sermons on the Pentateuch. See also E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990) pp. 25-26.