Auction 65 · Lot 98

(RaMBa”N). Peirush HaTorah [commentary to the Pentateuch]

Estimate: $10,000–$15,000
Hammer price: Not recorded

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

author

MOSES BEN NACHMAN (NACHMANIDES/.

printer

Joseph ben Jacob Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser

Place

Naples

Publication

1490

Description

Printed in Rabbinic script without nikud. The lengthy marginal notes alongside many leaves are piyutim, hymns and confessions pertaining to repentance and penitence.

references

Vinograd, Naples 10; Goff 88, Goldstein 57; Offenberg 98; Steinschneider, p. 1961, no. 6532, 50; Thes. A65; Wineman Cat. 38.

summary

After Rashi, the most popular commentary to the Pentateuch is undoubtedly that of Nachmanides, born in Gerona, Catalonia in 1194, and deceased in Eretz Israel in 1270. Where Rashi’s style is laconic and prismatic, Nachmanides’ writing is explicit and prosaic. After Rome and Lisbon, this is the third incunable edition of Nachmanides commentary to the Torah. Twenty eight books were printed at the short-lived Hebrew press at Naples which operated from 1480-1500. No doubt the Naples craftsmen would have continued to produce fine books had not the Spanish Expulsion and the subsequent political changes for Jews throughout Europe silenced the activity of the Neapolitan Hebrew presses. See: Amram, The Makers of Hebrew books in Italy, pp. 63-6.

ff. 197 (of 244). Unbound, occasional worming and staining, repairs with loss of text to ff. 1-5 and ff. 188-95, blank margins shaved close on few leaves, stamp of previous owner on f. 1: Yitzchak Bekh”r (ben kevod harav) Yekutiel Ravni of Isfahan, with extensive notations. Collation details available upon request. Sold not subject to return. Loose in later boards. Folio.

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