Auction 102 Part 1 Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection
Chizkuni – Cremona, 1559 – Ownership Inscription Handwritten and Signed by Kabbalist Rabbi David Grünhut of Frankfurt
Chizkuni, commentary on the Five Books of the Torah by R. Chizkiyah son of Manoach. Cremona: Vincenzo Conti, 1559.
First edition of the work printed independently (it was first printed as part of the Chumash edition printed by Daniel Bomberg in 1524).
Copy of kabbalist R. David Grünhut, with his signature on title page (partially trimmed): "G-d granted me this, David son of R. Natan Grünhut Heimerdin[gen], residing here, Wiesbaden, appointed over Idstein". Under his signature is a handwritten inscription noting a difficulty in Parashat Toldot. Another (trimmed) gloss on the topic in fact appears in Parashat Toldot (p. 28b).
Inscription at top of second leaf on meter of the poem printed there, with the poem hand vocalized.
R. David Grünhut (d. 1723) was a famous kabbalist who served as Rabbi of Aue and Wiesbaden and was a Torah scholar of Frankfurt am Main. He authored Tov Ro'i on the laws of shechitah, and Migdol David on the Torah (both printed together, Frankfurt 1702), and edited and published several books, including the first printed edition of Seder HaGilgulim by R. Chaim Vital, with his glosses (Frankfurt, 1684). During a conference of rabbis of Frankfurt in 1682, a ruling had been issued prohibiting R. David from publishing Sefer HaGilgulim "due to danger", but the publisher did not heed the prohibition and printed the book, explaining his refusal in the introduction.
On last leaf: "Proofread meticulously by Vittorio Eliano, grandson of the chief grammarian R. Eliyahu Bachur Ashkenazi Segal". On bottom of last leaf, printing license in Italian.
1-154, 157, [1] leaves. Does not contain leaves 155-156 (see below). 18.5 cm. Most leaves in good-fair condition. Stains. Open tears to first two leaves, affecting text, repaired with paper filling (with photocopy replacement). New binding.
Does not contain leaves 155-156 of Haazinu, which severely criticize the nations of the world, and were removed by the censor from most copies (see: M. Benayahu, HaDefus HaIvri BeCremona, Jerusalem 1971, pp. 210-211).
CB, no. 4746,2; Zedner, p. 287.