Bidspirit auction | (BIBLE,   Psalms). Sepher Tehillim. 

(BIBLE,   Psalms). Sepher Tehillim.  FIRST EDITION with commentary by Shlomo ben Shem Tov Atthia. Title within ornate architectural arch. Scattered marginalia in an Italian Sephardic hand. ff. 67. Title remargined, neat paper repair to f.2, stained in places. Occasional censors deletions, presently eminently readable. Later calf-backed patterned boards, rubbed. Sm. folio. Vinograd Vence 381; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. 130. Venice, Cornelio Adelkind for Marco Antonio Giustiniani, 1549. The commentary combines a variety of approaches including Peshat - with an emphasis explaining how each verse logically follows the previous verse; as well as Kabbalistic interpretations “as certain chapters cannot be interpreted in any other fashion.” The initial Introduction is of great historic interest: It enumerates two generations of nearly 70 scholars and rabbinic leaders with whom the author had visited or studied with. Includes personages from cities in Greece (Saloniki, Patras); Turkey (Adrianpole, Bursa, Constantinople); Italy (Rome, Venice, Padua, Mantua, Ancona, Verona) etc. It is interesting to note the differing honorifics the author bestows upon his teachers. For example, his master R. Levi ben Chaviv (Maharalba’ch) is entitled ‘Butzina Kadisha' - holy light, while R. Yoseph Fassi is denoted as the ‘Light of Israel in Talmud - the mighty hammer.’ Athias writes a lengthy account of members of the illustrious Taitatzak family, as well as concise biographical descriptions of many others.