Bidspirit auction | Talmud Bavli, Tractate Eruvin –

Talmud Bavli, Tractate Eruvin – Pesaro, Ca. 1511 – Printed by Gershom Soncino – Complete Copy – Signatures of Rabbi Yaakov Abensour and Rabbi Yaakov ibn Danan of Fez - Talmud Bavli, Tractate Eruvin, with Rashi, Tosafot and Piskei Tosafot. [Pesaro: Gershom Soncino, by Avraham son of Shmuel Ashkara Tzarfati, ca. 1511]. Second edition of Tractate Eruvin (previously printed in Constantinople). This is the earliest copy of Tractate Eruvin of which there are complete extant copies (see below). Title page with decorated woodcut frame. Printing and publishing details at center of leaf: ”And with His help we begin Tractate Eruvin, at the command of R. David Portero… and the proofreader… R. Yisrael Ashkenazi”. Piskei Tosafot on last two leaves. Various illustrations are printed within the text of the Gemara, Rashi and Tosafot (early Talmudic volumes from this period, including the Bomberg Talmud edition, generally left these spaces blank, to be filled in by hand after printing). Colophon on p. [138b]: ”Says Avraham son of the great prince R. Shmuel Ashkara called Tzarfati: Since every Jew must set aside times to study Torah night and day, but fate's disturbances expelled me from being part of G-d's heritage, I decided to keep myself from sin and support the workers doing the heavenly work of printing to be a 'supporter' [of Torah]”. Collation before colophon: ”24 gatherings, eighth gathering and last of two leaves, all the others of three…”. Various signatures of Torah scholars of Fez, Morocco on title page: R. Yaakov Abensour (Yaavetz) and R. Yaakov ibn Danan. The first owner was R. Yaakov ibn Danan, who signs: ”Which G-d granted his servant Yaakov ibn Danan” , followed by the signature of the Yaavetz: ”After the above sage's death I purchased it, Yaavetz”. R. Yaakov Abensour, the Yaavetz (1673-1752; Malchei Rabanan, leaves 64-65), a most prominent and illustrious figure of Moroccan Jewry. A leading halachic authority of his generation (the generation of the Or HaChaim and his teachers), a poet and a kabbalist, also well versed in practical kabbalah. Following R. Yehudah ibn Attar's passing, the Yaavetz succeeded him as head of the Fez Beit Din, becoming the supreme authority in Morocco, responding to halachic queries from throughout the Maghreb. He wrote numerous halachic responsa and other works. Some of his responsa were published in his two-part book Mishpat UTzedakah BeYaakov (printed in Alexandria, Egypt, 1894 and 1903). R. Yaakov ibn Danan (the second), whose signature appears in the present volume, was a rabbi of Fez contemporaneous with the Yaavetz (see: Malchei Rabanan, p. 70b, second entry). Stamp on title page, with specimen of calligraphic signature: ”Avraham[?] ---[?]”. Glosses within text and on margins of leaves in several places (some trimmed), in fine Sephardic-Western script (possibly written by the Yaavetz or another Fez Torah scholar). Complete copy. [140] leaves (foliation in Western script at tops of leaves, and in a later hand at bottom margins of leaves). 31.5 cm. Fair-good condition, first and last leaves in fair condition. Stains, including dark stains. Marginal open tears to all leaves, many bordering text, affecting text (and title frame), repaired with paper filling (large open tears to title page and first and last leaves, covering most of margins, repaired with paper filling). Worming, affecting text, repaired with paper filling. New leather binding. Date of printing not mentioned in book (nor the printer, Gershom Soncino). Many bibliographers date it to 1511 (including Refael Natan Nata Rabinovicz, Maamar Al Hadpasat HaTalmud; Yitzchak Yudlov, Ginzei Yisrael; and others). Avraham Meir Habermann, HaMadpisim Bnei Soncino, dates it to ca. 1515. Some date it to 1515-1519, based on references to it in other tractates printed in Pesaro in those years. The Soncino Family The Soncino family is known as one of the founders of Hebrew printing in Italy, deriving its name from the town of Soncino in Northern Italy where the family settled and established their first press. Members of the Soncino family were the first to begin printing the Babylonian Talmud (simultaneously, several tractates were printed in Spain). The first tractate, Berachot, was printed in 1484. Due to the difficulties and troubles that befell them, they were forced to leave their city and traversed various cities throughout Italy. Wherever they dwelled, they continued their work and printed important Hebrew books. One of their stops was in the city of Pesaro in Northeast Italy, where Gershom son of Moshe Soncino resided for several years and printed a few tractates of the Talmud. This printing, today called the Pesaro print, was a cornerstone in the history of the printing of the Babylonian Talmud. Daniel Bomberg, the renowned Venetian printer, used the tractates printed in Pesaro as the model for his famous edition of the Talmud.