Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Leshon Limudim – Constantinople, 1542 – Printed by Eliezer Soncino – Copy of Philanthropist Refael Rovigo, Supporter of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh
Opening: $500
Sold for: $1,063
Including buyer's premium
Leshon Limudim, grammatical work by R. David ibn Yachya. Constantinople: Eliezer son of Gershom Soncino, 1542.
Despite the statement on the title page that the author's son agreed to print the book "for a second time", the present book is the third edition (previously printed in Constantinople in 1506 and 1520).
Colophon on last leaf: "This magnificent book was completed on 3rd Nisan 1542… Just as G-d granted us the merit to complete it, so may G-d grant us the merit to complete Tehillah LeDavid by the author of this book, and many other books…" (Tehillah LeDavid appears to have never been completed by its author; see: Ben Yaakov, Otzar HaSefarim, p. 616, no. 46).
Ownership inscription on title page: "Came to the possession of the lofty R. Refael Rovigo" – apparently the philanthropist R. Refael Rovigo of Modena, an intimate associate and supporter of the Or HaChaim, a member of the Knesset Yisrael committee in Italy that supported the Or HaChaim's yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Several glosses in Italian script and handwritten corrections. Inscriptions in Italian script on back endpaper (draft of a piyyut).
[45] leaves. 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including large dampstains (dark stains to title page), and traces of former dampness, with mold stains. Tears and open tears, including open tear to center of title page, affecting text on both sides. Worming. Bookplate. Early cardboard binding, with defects (open tear to spine).
On last leaf, signature of censor Luigi da Bologna, dated 1601.
Provenance: Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries