Bidspirit auction | EMDEN, YA’AKOV. Lechem Shamayim [commentary

EMDEN, YA’AKOV. Lechem Shamayim [commentary to the Mishnah]. FIRST EDITION. Part I. Verso of title with diagram of the position of the Temple furniture (according to the Ra’avad). ff. (1), 122 (i.e. 121). Ex-library, foxed. Modern boards. Folio. Vinograd, Wandsbeck 18. Wandsbeck, Israel ben Abraham, 1720. Lechem Shamayim is a commentary on the Mishnah and to Hilchoth Beth Habechirah by the Ramba’m. This was the very first of some 30 titles issued by R. Ya’akov Emden (1697-1776), and the only one published before he established his own printing press in his hometown of Altona. The author introduces the work with apologies for presuming to contribute to existing scholarship despite his youth, and specifically for arguing with the highly regarded Tosfos Yom Tov commentary, which he notes was the only Mishnah commentary available to him. Part II of Lechem Shamayim was issued in Altona in 1768.