Auction 83 · Lot 89

Arba’ah Turim [The Four Orders of the Jewish Code of Law]. Orach Chaim and Yoreh De’ah (only).

Estimate: $12,000–$18,000
Hammer price: $16,000

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

author

JACOB BEN ASHER

printer

Solomon ben Moses Soncino, c.

Place

Soncino

Publication

1490

Description

Second incunable edition. Occasional marginalia.

references

Vinograd, Soncino 38; Offenberg 62; Goff Heb-48; Thesaurus A-56.

summary

In 1303, Jacob ben Asher, along with his father (and teacher) Asher ben Jehiel (the Rosh), departed from Germany and resettled in Toledo, Spain. The Arba’ah Turim (also called the Tur) served as an important bridge between the two medieval centers of European Jewry and helped to inform the Sephardi Jews of the Iberian Peninsula of the opinions of the Aschkenazi rabbis of France and Germany. The complete work is divided into four sections called Turim (rows). This volume contains Part I, Orach Chaim, which deals with blessings, prayers, the Sabbath, festivals, and fasts; and Part II, Yoreh De’ah, which deals with Issur ve-Hetter (ritual law), commencing with the laws of ritual slaughter and kashruth and ending with chapters on usury, idolatry, and mourning. This edition of the Arbah Turim is the only work in which Solomon Soncino, is recorded as printer (see end of Orach Chaim). See D. Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy, p.78.

* Part I: ff. 85 (of 94). Opening nine leaves supplied in facsimile; upper corner of sig. 2:8 repaired with some loss. * Part II: ff. 64 (of 80). Supplied in facsimile: Sig. 8:8; and final 15 leaves; also upper right hand corner of sig. 1:1 provided in facsimile; sig. 2: 5 with slight tear touching a few letters. Slight staining and marginal repair in places. Censored in places (mostly in Laws of Idolatry) but text is eminently readable. Modern tree-calf with morocco spine labels. Folio.

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