Bidspirit auction | Dikdukei Sofrim – Complete Set

Dikdukei Sofrim – Complete Set of All Parts / Two Letters Handwritten and Signed by Author, Rabbi Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz / Maamar Al Hadpasat HaTalmud / Moreh HaMoreh – Munich-Przemyśl-Mainz, 1868-1897 - Dikdukei Sofrim, textual variants from a manuscript from the year 5103 in Munich, with Divrei Sofrim, by R. Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz. Munich-Przemyśl-Mainz, various printers, 1868-1897. Complete set, sixteen parts in eleven volumes. Complete set of all sixteen parts (with additional books by and about the author: Maamar Al Hadpasat HaTalmud, Moreh HaMoreh and more). The author passed away in the middle of writing the final Part XVI on Tractate Chullin, and it was completed and published by R. Chanoch son of R. Yonah HaKohen Ehrentreu [Rabbi of Munich]. Dikdukei Sofrim is composed of variant texts to the Babylonian Talmud, based on the Munich manuscript, with comparisons to other manuscripts, early printings and Rishonim literature, as well as variant texts to Rashi, Rif and other commentators. The author, R. Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz, added many of his own learned textual notes. Maamar Al Hadpasat HaTalmud printed on pp. 41-73 of first part (this article was reprinted in 1873, with notes and correction and a divisional title page, appearing in the present set as an appendix to Part VIII, after Tractate Shekalim, and it has also been printed in its own right). In Part VI, on Tractate Pesachim, before the beginning of the commentary, Moreh HaMoreh, reply to Moreh Derech by R. Dov Ber Zamber, a criticism of the Dikdukei Sofrim relating to a comment of Rashi in Tractate Moed Katan. Divisional title page (originally printed as a standalone booklet). In Part IV, two critical articles from periodicals are also bound in (Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer, Das Werk des Herrn Rabbinowitz, from Der Israelit, supplements to issues 14 and 15, 1868; and Dr. Zechariah Frankel, Das Werk Dikdukei Sofrim, from Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums, March and April 1868). On endpapers of seven volumes, ownership inscriptions of ”Yechiel Michel son of R. Eliezer Leizer HaLevi of Leslau, that is Inowrocław” (variously dated across the volumes). Two letters handwritten and signed by the author, R. Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz, are bound at the end of Part IV, after Tractate Yoma. These letters were written in Munich. The first letter, 5 lines long, on paper with his name stamped, dated Nisan 1869, addressed to ”M. Löwy”, regarding payment for a dealing between the two. In the second, dated Iyar 1871, 14 lines long, R. Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz begs the unnamed addressee to send him early Talmudic tractates printed in Cracow and Lublin, in view of the superiority of the text of the Cracow and Lublin editions to the new ones. In Part II, Tractate Moed Katan, p. 50a, a notable handwritten gloss refers to an article in HaMaggid expressing surprise at a reference made in Dikdukei Sofrim to a nonexistent source. R. Refael Natan Nata Rabinowitz (1835-1889) was an exceptional Torah scholar, textual critic and bibliographer who resided in Munich for years (from 1864), recording textual variants in the Munich manuscript and other sources, culminating in his monumental Dikdukei Sofrim. His Maamar Al Hadpasat HaTalmud is a foundational bibliographical text for the history of Talmud printings. 16 parts in 11 volumes. 21.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Tears and open tears in several places. Leaves detached (including title pages). Original fabric bindings. Wear and defects to bindings. Partially detached bindings in several volumes.