(Hayarchi). Sepher HaManhig.

AVRAHAM BEN NATHAN OF LUNEL

Solomon ben Mazal-Tov

Constantinople

1519

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut block floral border.

Vinograd, Const. 110.

The first work on European Minhag. A record of customs, particularly concerning prayer and synagogue functions, as practiced in Provence, southern France. The explicit purpose here was to demonstrate the Halachic underpinning for every Minhag. Due to the wider circulation of Halachic decisions emanating from Spanish Rabbinic authorities, a need arose to record indigenous communal practices and so prevent confusion. The work also details Minhag in Germany, England and elsewhere, providing information found nowhere else. The author, R. Abraham ben Nathan of Lunel (1155-1215), was a disciple of R. Abraham ben David of Posquières (RABa, D), famous for his glosses to Maimonides and to Alfasi. See Isadore Twersky, Rabad of Posquières (1962), pp. 240-44. A good copy of a significant and rare text.