Bidspirit auction | Sefer Yesod! With the Rare

Sefer Yesod! With the Rare Leaf of Approbations: SEfer Hayashar - First Edition Venice, 1625 - Sefer Hayashar, ”which is a book containing several stories and Midrashis by the Sages on Chamisha Chumshei Torah and Sefer Yehoshua and Shoftim...”. An acient book describing Jewish history until the days of the Shoftim. First edition, Venice - 1625. Stefansky Sifrei Yesod 532. Originally: 158, [2] leaves. This copy is without the title page and the printer's foreword. Begins with leaf 5 of the introduction. Leaf 89 is also missing. Moth perforations and damage. Detached leaves. Stains. Fair overall condition.  Includes the last leaf with the approbations by the rabbis of Venice and an Italian printing license . This leaf is extremely rare. This copy is one of the regular ones which omitted passages of the introudction to the book (printed on leaves 5-7 only; leaf 8a remained blank) and the printer's foreword. Also omitted were Shir Nechmad and Schum Psukei Hasefer, following the instruction of the rabbis of Venice to omit them (see below)  so that this book will not be confused with Sefer Hayashar referred to by Sefer Yehoshua (10:13) as written on the title page.  About the date of the work and its authenticity This book is very ancient. According to what is written in the introduction, it was found in the walls of a house in Jerusalem at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Rabbi Avraham Ben HaGra (in Rav Pe'alim, page 67) calims that this book was authored during the generation of the desert. The Chida (in Shem HaGedolim, Ma'arechet Sefarim Yud, 73) wrote: ” Sefer HaYashar , which is printed with stories, particularly the war of the tribes with the Canaanites, astonishing things. It is written there that at the time of the destruction, an old man was found hiding inside a wall with several precious books, and this book was among them. Many do not believe in the mentioned book, but the Yalkut cites it , and the author of the Yalkut was at the beginning of the sixth millennium. Also, Rabbeinu Bahya , in his book Parashat Vayishlach, mentioned it simply. The Ramban, however, in his commentary seems to be in doubt, writing, ”And if we believe in Sefer Milchamot Bnei Yaakov” see there”. Rabbeinu Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh of Modena wrote (in Ari Nohem, Jerusalem, 1929, pp. 73-74): ”They printed [Sefer HaYashar] without my consent andthat of the Sages here in Venice... Even though I removed from it illusions and writings that this is the Sefer HaYashar that was mentioned in the Torah... there are still those who say that it was found after the destruction, and who can stop those who fabricate from their hearts as they please”. He apparently meant that the ”illusions and writings” that were printed in the special copy were omitted from the regular copies at his instruction. See: Yosef Dan, Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh of Modena and Sefer Hayashar (Hebrew), Sinai, 78, 1976, pp. 197-198; Yitzchak Yudlov, More about Sefer Hayashar (Hebrew), ibid. 79, 1976, pp. 94-95.