RaMBa”M). Sepher ha-Mitzvoth [The Book of Precepts]. Translated from Judeo-Arabic by Moses ibn Tibbon

MOSES BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES/.

n.p.

Constantinople

c. 1510

FIRST EDITION. Printed without a title page. Initial letter within woodcut border

Vinograd, Const. 63; Yaari, Const. 80; Mehlman 763; not in Adams

Rare First Edition of a Fundamental Rabbinic Text. Maimonides composed his Sepher ha-Mitzvoth or Book of Precepts prior to his epic rabbinic code, Mishneh Torah. The author took at face value an aggadic statement at the end of Tractate Makoth to the effect that the Torah handed to Moses on Mount Sinai consisted of 613 commandments. In his introduction, Maimonides lays down the “Shorashim” (Roots) or criteria whereby he determines which laws are to be enumerated in this register of 613 commandments. Not all the laws of the Torah qualify in this respect. Rather than merely listing the commandments one by one, Maimonides provides halachic reasoning and sources in the Talmud and halachic Midrashim. These sources are invaluable, especially in light of the fact that in the later Code of Mishneh Torah the sources were laid aside, making the task of an aspiring student of Maimonides all the more difficult