Arbaah VeEsrim – Bible, with commentary in Italian, three parts – Neviim Rishonim, Neviim Acharonim and Ketuvim. Venice: Bragadin, [1739-1741]. Three parts in three volumes (does not include Torah part).

Elegant Bible edition, with a brief Italian commentary, prepared for press and published by Yitzchak Foa (a printer in Bragadin's press). The present set contains three out of the four parts. Each part opens with an engraved frontispiece depicting figures from the Bible, produced by Francesco Griselini, designer of an illustrated Book of Esther which was published several years later in Venice. Each frontispiece consists of an elaborate engraving within a decorative engraved border (printed in two stages – first the borders and then the engravings in center). The central engravings depict the figures of Joshua, Samuel and David (Neviim Rishonim); Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Neviim Acharonim); and King David with his lyre reciting Psalms (Ketuvim). In some copies, the central engravings were printed in sepia; in the present copy they were printed in black; another copy of the engraving was printed in the Neviim Acharonim part in sepia (detached, like the engraving in the Neviim Rishonim part).

Divisional title pages for all three parts. Frontispieces with engravings facing title page in all three parts.

Three volumes. Neviim Rishonim: [2], 2-108 lea
ves. Neviim Acharonim: [3], 130-228, 209-223 leaves. Ketuvim: [2], [225]-347 leaves. Lacking last leaf. 26 cm. Varying condition of volumes; first and third volume in overall fair condition, second volume in good-fair condition. Stains, including dark dampstains (many dampstains to last leaves of third volume). Tears and open tears in several places, affecting text. Worming (mainly to first volume), affecting text. Early leather bindings, with gilt decorations and original color endpaper. Wear, worming and damage to bindings.

Ezrat HaSofer, Tikun Sofrim in Vavei HaAmudim format, Chumash with haftarot and with Or Torah by R. Menachem di Lonzano, for study and for scribing a Torah scroll. Amsterdam: Yisrael Mondovi for Gerard Johann Janson, 1767-[1769]. Five parts in one volume.

Title page decorated with engraving at beginning of volume, dated 1769. Divisional title pages for each book of the Torah, dated 1768. Half-title at the beginning of each book does not appear in the present copy (see Bibliography of the Hebrew Book).

At beginning of the Book of Bereshit, Meir Nativ – on holy names in Torah, by R. Yehudah Pisa. At end of the Book of Devarim, haftarah for Shabbat Eichah with Spanish verse-by-verse translation; Luchot HaIbur (divisional title page) – charts for determining dates of festivals (in Hebrew and Portuguese).

Bereshit: [11]; [1], 64; 26 leaves. Shemot: [1], 65-119; [2], 28 leaves. Vayikra: [2], 120-159; [2], 24 leaves. Bamidbar: [2], 160-215; [2], 16 leaves. Devarim: [1], 216-264; [265]-281 leaves. Luchot HaIbur: [9] leaves. 19 cm. High-quality paper. Good condition. Stains. Some marginal tears to several leaves. Original leather binding, with original color endpaper and gilt decorations.

At end of book, [1] leaf, bibliographically undocumented, in Hebrew and Spanish.

Torat HaElohim, Book of Bereshit, with commentaries of Rashi, Onkelos, Minchat Shai, references and notes by R. Wolf Heidenheim, and other commentaries. Offenbach: printer not indicated, [1797].

The book was published one booklet at a time up to the middle of Miketz (Bereshit 43: 16), and its printing was not completed.

Signature on title page: "Yaakov de Pinto" [a Torah scholar and prominent member of the 19th century Hague community].

412 leaves. Approx. 20 cm. Good condition. Stains. Light worming to margins of several leaves. Old binding, with leather spine and corners. Light damage to binding.

R. Wolf Heidenheim completed his commentary Havanat HaMikra printed here, with variations, in Moda LaBinah, printed 1818.

Zedner, p. 112; Cowley, p. 104.

Book of Tehillim. Leiden: Jan Maire, 1637.

[120] leaves. 11.5 cm. Book in overall good condition. Binding in fair condition. Stains. Light wear. Small marginal tears to several leaves. Several leaves somewhat loose. Early leather binding, detached and damaged.

CB, no. 470; Zedner, p. 128.

Kodesh Hilulim, "Las Alabancas de Santidad, traducion de los Psalmos de David, por la misma Phrasis y palabras del Hebrayco". Book of Tehillim in Hebrew, with Spanish translation and commentary by R. Yaakov Yehudah Leon Templo. Amsterdam: printer not indicated, 1671.

R. Yaakov Yehudah Leon Templo (1603-after 1675), a Portuguese born Amsterdam rabbi, studied in Amsterdam under R. Yitzchak Uziel, rabbi of the Neveh Shalom community. He was known for his pioneering work on the structure of the Temple and for a model of the First Temple he built, which earned his family the name Templo. The present book is his Spanish translation and commentary on Tehillim, which was also highly regarded by scholars and poets of all stripes.

Printed from left to right.

Signature on title page: "Hirschel Lehren" –
R. Tzvi Hirsch Lehren of Amsterdam (1784-1853), founder and head of the Pekidim and Amarkalim society, which coordinated the fundraising for Eretz Israel in Western and Central Europe, and transferred the funds to their destination to benefit the Yishuv in the Holy Land.

Short handwritten inscription on one leaf.

[16] leaves; 458, [6] pages. 18.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Small marginal tears to several leaves. Early parchment binding, with defects.

Ex libris label on back binding: "Yaakov Naftali Herz Levi" of Amsterdam. Belonged to collector Naphtali Herz van Biema (see: Catalog der reichhaltigen Sammlung hebräischer und jüdischer Bücher… N. H. van Biema, Amsterdam: Joachimsthal, 1904).