Auction 1 - Rare Hebrew Books, Manuscripts & Rabbinic Letters
Lot 27:
Description
First edition of Kesef Mezukak, homiletic discourses on the Torah by R. Yeshayahu / Yoshiyahu Pinto (c. 1565-1648), rabbi and kabbalist of Damascus, student and later family connection of R. Chaim Vital. The work is described in printed sources as the second part of Kesef Nivchar.
On fol. 2a, at the opening על שבר יוסף, a former owner wrote: זאת הקינה שקונן המחבר על פטירת בנו שמת בן כד שנים, identifying the passage as Pinto’s lament for his son who died at the age of twenty-four. The copy also bears the ownership inscription of Avraham ben Yisrael of Glogau, recording that the volume came to him from his father’s estate. He may possibly be identified with R. Avraham Tzvi of Glogau, author of Likute Avraham.
In the early 17th century, Venice was the undisputed printing capital of the Jewish world, but Jewish printers were legally barred from owning presses. They had to partner with Christian printers. Giovanni Caleoni was a prominent Christian printer in Venice who leased his name and machinery to Jewish proofreaders and typesetters. This 1628 first edition stands as a beautiful artifact of intercultural economic cooperation, featuring exquisite Hebrew typography and ornate woodcut borders crafted in a Christian-run Venetian workshop.
Condition: Numbered to 231, followed by indexes. Nicely bound. Several leaves reinforced including the title page with some effect to text; scattered staining; fol. 95 with small lower-corner tear.
Opening Price: $800
Provenance: The collection of Abraham Lieberman, Flatbush, Brooklyn NY
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