Pethach Devarai. (Attributed to Elijah ben Asher HaLevi / David ben Judah Messer Leon).

(GRAMMAR)

Mantua(?)

1471

Manuscript in Hebrew written in an Italian semi-cursive hand on paper. Signed by various censors. * Tipped in front is an early Latin real estate manuscript with an erroneous Hebrew title. On very last page is a note relating to the Zodiac.

Demonstrates how a knowledge of Hebrew grammar is necessary for a full understanding of the Bible. The text of this particular manuscript has differences to the printed editions (ed. princ. Naples, 1492). In his colophon (f.39r), the scribe records that he completed this manuscript in 1471 at the age of 76. On the following page (f.39v) a poem appears with the acrostic “Moshe MarCheshvan” suggesting that the writer feels his impending death. See H. Hirschfeld, Catalogue of the Hebrew Mss. of the Montefiore Library and of other Hebrew Mss. in the Jews’ College (London, 1904) no. 409. Provenance: The heirs of Eliezer Richetti (See S. Simonsohn, Duchy of Mantua, p. 533). Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 124). Sotheby’s, Manuscripts from the Montefiore Endowment, 27th-28th October, 2004, Lot 296.