Bidspirit auction | Five Books of the Torah

Five Books of the Torah – Venice, 1755 – Complete Set in Five Volumes – Illustrated Title Page in Each Volume - Five Books of the Torah, with Haftarot for the entire year according to the customs of all communities, and the Five Megillot. Venice, Bragadin-Foa Press, 1755. Complete set in five volumes. An attractive and distinctive edition, printed in a format specifically designed to allow the Chumash to be divided into five independent volumes. As stated on the title pages: “And now, behold, this is something new: after each weekly portion, the Haftarah pertaining to that portion has been printed; and after each Book, the Haftarot for special Sabbaths and festivals, as well as the Megillot pertaining to that Book… and a calendar of festivals after each Book, so that whoever wishes may make this Chumash into five volumes.” Each of the five volumes opens with an attractive illustrated title page, followed by the main title page. Each volume also contains the “Names of the Cantillation Marks” according to the Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Italian traditions, as well as an eighty-year calendar, from 1755 through 1834. An interesting bibliographical detail: the illustrated title page is not recorded at all in the Hebrew Bibliography Project or in the catalogue of the National Library of Israel. In the present set, however, the illustrated title page is preserved in its entirety at the beginning of each of the five volumes. The title pages bear the chronogram “שבענו מטובך”. Format: 8°. [5], 68, [7]; [5], 69–132, [37]; [5], 133–176, [28]; [5], 177–236, [2]; [5], 237–300, [18] leaves. 17.5 cm. Good–very good condition. Minor wormholes. Attractive original half-leather bindings, with minor defects.