Bidspirit auction | *Arukh HaKatzar* (The Abridged *Arukh*)

*Arukh HaKatzar* (The Abridged *Arukh*) by Rabbi Nathan of Rome, 'First Edition' (post-incunabula), Constantinople 1511. Accompanied by an incomplete copy of *Kuntras HaShemot Ruach Ne'eman*—a rare Kabbalistic work—Salonika 1803. Abridgment of the *Sefer HaArukh* by Rabbi Nathan ben Rabbi Yechiel of Rome. First printing. Constantinople 1511. The copy before us contains 14 leaves out of a total of 64 unnumbered leaves. It includes the first leaf of the book itself, bearing the title *Sefer HaArukh HaKatzar*. The pages are unnumbered, and the book is structured in quires of four leaves each. This copy contains the last three leaves of the first quire (the book's first leaf—blank on one side and featuring verses by the author on the other—is missing); a complete second quire; a missing third quire; a complete fourth quire; and the final leaf of the tenth quire, as well as leaves 2 and 3 of the thirteenth quire. To summarize the contents of this copy: of Quire 1, only the last 3 leaves remain; Quires 2 and 4 are complete; of Quire 10, only the final leaf is present; and of Quire 13, the second and third leaves are present. The first work in the volume is *Ruach Ne'eman* (A Faithful Spirit)—a treatise on Kabbalistic terms—by the Kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Miranda, one of the leading scholars of Salonika. It is a very rare book that has not appeared at auction. Salonika, 1803 (5563). Original collation: 1 leaf + 58 leaves; the title page is missing from this copy. Bound at the end of the volume are 13 leaves from the book *Shtei Yadot* by Rabbi Menachem di Lonzano (Venice, 1618/5378). The leaves included are: 36–37, 39–46, and 51–53. One of Rabbi Avraham Miranda’s books contains a treatise interpreting ”Etzba HaMa'arich” from the book *Shtei Yadot*; this may explain why pages from the book *HaMa'arich* are bound at the end of the volume containing Rabbi Avraham Miranda’s work. 19 cm. Antique binding; damaged and slightly detached. The treatise *Ruach Ne'eman* shows minor wormholes and stains, but is in good to very good condition. In the book *Aruch HaKatzar*, there are repairs (paper patches) on the margins of several pages; wormholes and tears appear primarily in the margins. Stains are present; in the book *HaMa'arich*, pages 35–36 show repairs that obscure some text. Page 45 has a tear resulting in the loss of part of the page and text. Minor wormholes and stains. Condition: fair to good.