Bidspirit auction | Commentary of Gersonides (Ralbag) on

Commentary of Gersonides (Ralbag) on the Torah – Mantua, 1474 - 1478. Incunable - Two leaves from the Commentary of Ralbag on the Torah. Two rare leaves from the commentary of Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag) on the Torah, from the earliest edition printed in Mantua, Italy, 1474–1478 – among the very first Hebrew books ever printed. Printed by Abraham Conat and Abraham Yedidiah ha-Ezrachi, founders of one of the earliest Hebrew printing presses in northern Italy. Only a handful of books were produced in this press, all of them extremely rare. Some bibliographers suggest that this edition was in fact printed in Ferrara, to which the printers transferred their type around 1477. The present leaves contain four pages from the Book of Numbers, covering Parashat Pinchas through the beginning of Parashat Matot. Ralbag was one of the foremost Jewish philosophers and biblical commentators of the Middle Ages. His commentary is noted for its rational and linguistic approach, integrating philosophical interpretation with careful textual analysis. This early incunable edition represents one of the foundational monuments of Hebrew printing in fifteenth-century Italy. [2] paper leaves. 32×20 cm. Stefansky, Incunabula, no. 30i. Condition: fair to good. Tears and worming.