Auction 34 · Lot 143

Masechta Zevachim [sacrifices] ff. 122. *Bound with: Mishnayoth Seder Kodashim. With commentary of Maimonides. ff. 47

Estimate: $1,000–$1,500
Hammer price: $900

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

author

(TALMUD, BABYLONIAN)

printer

Froben

Place

Basle

Publication

1580 and 1578

Description

Printer’s device on title

references

Vinograd Basle146 and 120; Prijs 124, no. 27 and 124, no. 3(M)

summary

Following the wanton destruction in Italy of vast numbers of Hebrew texts - especially Talmud volumes, the Basle humanist-printer Johannes Froben was moved to issue a new edition of the Talmud to compensate for the losses experienced by the learned Jews of Italy. And yet the censor Marco Marino Brixiense and his apostate assistants diligently sought to remove any passages deemed offensive to the Church. Consequently, the potentially scandalizing Tractate Avoda Zara was never issued from the press of Froben. See R.N.N. Rabinowitz, Ma’amar al Hadpassat Ha-Talmud pp. 74-79 ; M. J. Heller, Printing the Talmud, (1992) pp. 241-65

Signature on title in an Italian hand (Yaakov ben Reuben of Safed), small tear in upper margin of the title. Browned and dampstained. Contemporary elaborately tooled vellum over heavy wooden boards, rubbed and cracked in places. Folio

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