Bidspirit auction | Collection of Early Seforim, 1721–1827.

Collection of Early Seforim, 1721–1827. - 1. Talmud Bavli, Tractate Megillah. Amsterdam, 1721. An early Amsterdam printing of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Megillah. A defective copy. 2 . Chiddushei Halachot of Rabbi Meir (Maharam Schiff) Hamburg, 1741. Chiddushei Halachot by Rabbi Meir Schiff (Maharam Schiff), Part II, containing novellae on several tractates, including Bava Kamma (and Bava Batra), Sanhedrin, Shabbat (Megillah), Zevachim, as well as sermons on selected weekly portions (Devarim, Va’etchanan), and additional homiletic and exegetical material. This is the first edition of the celebrated Chiddushei Maharam Schiff, one of the foundational works of Talmudic commentary. Due to its importance, it was later incorporated into standard editions of the Talmud and continues to be printed alongside classical commentaries such as the Rif and Maharsha. At the head of the title page appears a rare engraved illustration depicting the aggadic narrative of Rabba bar bar Chanah, in which sailors descend from a ship and light a fire upon what they believe to be dry land, only to discover it is the back of a great whale. The author’s surname “Schiff” (“ship” in Yiddish) is often noted in connection with this illustration, and it has attracted considerable scholarly commentary. 3. Ma'amar Efsharut Ha-Teva First Edition. Amsterdam, 1762. Ma'amar Efsharut Ha-Teva, a philosophical treatise refuting the arguments of Aristotle and his followers, by the scholar Rabbi Naftali Hirsch Gansler. 4 . Chavat Da'atJosefov, 1827. A classic halachic work.