Bidspirit auction | Exceptionally Rare Edition: Shishah Sidrei

Exceptionally Rare Edition: Shishah Sidrei Mishnah   Constantinople, c. 1737 * Shishah Sidrei Mishnah in two volumes. The first volume contains Zeraim, Moed, and Nashim; the second contains Nezikin, Kodshim, and Taharos. Printed in square Hebrew type with vowels. The title pages state that the edition was printed in “Amsterdam” in 1733, as indicated by the numerical value of the Hebrew date, and even the magnificent title-page border is of Amsterdam design. In reality, however, this edition was printed several years later in Constantinople (Kushta)! The decorative elements and typefaces in the present volumes of Mishnah are characteristic of Constantinople printings. Furthermore, the names of the workers mentioned at the end of the second volume also appear in other sefarim printed in Constantinople during these years. Benayahu wrote an essay on this edition under the title, “An Amsterdam Edition of the Mishnah That Is Actually a Constantinople Edition.” He suggests that the false Amsterdam imprint was intended to make the edition more attractive to European buyers, who greatly valued Amsterdam-printed sefarim. An exceptionally rare edition. This edition was not recorded by Yaari in his work on Hebrew printing in Constantinople. A complete set, including the second volume, which is exceedingly rare! Regarding the rarity of the second volume, Benayahu writes in the above-mentioned essay: “I did not find the second volume anywhere in Eretz Yisrael, nor in libraries abroad, and I was uncertain whether it had ever been printed, ” until he discovered both volumes of this edition in the Schocken Library. The National Library of Israel likewise lacked this volume for many years. A copy entered its holdings only in recent years, from the Valmadonna collection. Constantinople, c. 1737. Page Count: Volume I: [1], 188 leaves. Volume II: [2], 189–447; 8 leaves. Size: Volume I: 16.1 cm. Volume II: 15.8 cm. Condition: Volume I is in fair to fair-good condition. Restoration to the opening leaves, with several individual words supplied in facsimile copy. Old mildew stains and slight wear to the margins. Volume II is in good condition. Stains. Both volumes are bound in different leather bindings, worn and slightly damaged. Bibliography: An edition of the Mishnah is known to have been printed in Amsterdam in 1733, expressly stating that it was printed by Solomon Proops. The present edition, however, is the identical printing of a known Mishnah edition issued in Constantinople in 1737, itself exceptionally rare, with only the title page and the following prayer leaf differing. (The standard Constantinople 1737 edition was likewise intended to be accompanied by a siddur, as stated on its title page.) See: Meir Benayahu, “The Transfer of the Center of Hebrew Printing from Venice to Amsterdam, ” 1975, section 4; Ginzei Yisrael, Mehlmann collection, no. 117, in the note concerning textual variants. The standard Constantinople 1737 edition is recorded by Yaari, no. 367.