Bidspirit auction | Miniature Halachic Manuscript – Sefer

Miniature Halachic Manuscript – Sefer Shulchan HaTahor – Central Europe, 1771 * A manuscript containing the laws of Orach Chaim and Yoreh De’ah necessary for daily life – a kind of concise Shulchan Aruch – authored by Rabbi David Pardo of Amsterdam, with the addition of the glosses of the Rema, edited by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Przemysl. A miniature manuscript, measuring only 9.5 cm. This manuscript is actually a handwritten copy of the printed edition issued in Amsterdam in 1770, written in an Ashkenazic script characteristic of Central Europe in the 18th century. At the beginning of the manuscript, there is a title page, in which the date corresponds to 1771 (the wording of the title page follows that of the Amsterdam edition, though the year is additionally emphasized by the inclusion of the letter “aleph”). The title page is adorned with an architectural frame, unlike the illustration in the Amsterdam printing. At the foot of the title page appears the name of the scribe (struck through with a line, yet still decipherable): “The humble Shmuel son of [the honorable Rabbi?] Shmuel.” At the end of the sefer appears a colophon: “This was written by the humble [Kalman] son of the honorable Rabbi [Shmuel…] of Prague” (the scribe’s name was erased and subsequently rewritten in a different hand). Central Europe (possibly Prague?), 1771. Original Page Count: [4], 75, 77–144 leaves (approximately 293 written pages). Complete. Condition : Fair to good; many leaves with holes. Original leather binding, damaged. The manuscript includes a full transcription of the entire work, aside from the opening leaves (with the exception of the approbation of Rabbi Shaul, Av Beis Din of Amsterdam, which was copied).