Sepher ha-Agudah [Halachic compendium arranged in order of the tractates of the Talmud]

ALEXANDER SUESSLIN HAKOHEN OF FRANKFURT

Isaac Prostitz

Cracow

1571

FIRST EDITION. Title within elaborate architectural arch. Letters of initial words in vignettes. Printed in double columns. Former owners’ signatures on title including one in a fine, precise Ashkenazic cursive hand MOSHE BEN HA-GAON M[OREINU] HA-[RAV REB] YOM TOV LIPMAN LEVI HELLER.

Vinograd, Cracow 32; not in Adams

From the Library of the Family of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller. R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1579-1654), Chief Rabbi of Prague and Cracow, was one of the great scholars of the 17th-century. A prolific writer, he authored many classical works, the most celebrated being the Tosfoth Yom Tov commentary to the Mishnah. The signatory on the title-page of this book was the rabbi's oldest son, R. Moshe of Prague, a well known scholar in his own right. His father quotes many of his son’s original comments and insights in his Tosfoth Yom Tov (e.g. Trac. Uktzin, Chap. III, Mishna 12). N. Z. Friedmann, Otzar Ha-Rabanim (no. 14618), states that R. Moshe was: “Mi-Gedolei chachmei doro” ("One of the greatest scholars of his generation.") The Sepher ha-Agudah, a popular, authoritative code, is cited extensively by R. Jacob ha-Levi Moellin (Mahari”l) and R. Moses Isserles (Ram”a). The author (d. 1348), was a disciple of R. Isaac of Dueren and served as rabbi in Cologne, Worms and Frankfurt. See EJ, Vol. II, cols. 585-6 (incl. facsimile).