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Mishnah. With commentary of Maimonides (translated from Arabic)
Description
Royal folio (13 x 9¼ in.; 330 x 235 mm). Types 5:91H (sc.), 6:100H (sq.), 1:153H (sq.). Metalcut initials and 47 woodcut diagrams (Thes A73.1-8), many spaces left for the manuscript supply of diagrams. Double column, 59 lines (variable) + headline. collation: 1–28 310 4–58 66 78; 8–128 13–146; 15–188 1910; 20–248 256 268 2710; 28–348; 35–448 456: 355 (of 356) leaves, lacking only blank fol. 1; bottom corner of fol. 2 torn away, about two dozen missing words supplied in manuscript, marginal notes in Hebrew and Italian (many shaved), staining on various leaves, inner margin of last leaf strengthened, overall a good copy with fresh, strong paper. Late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century half sheep over marbled boards, pattern-paper endleaves, edges lightly sprinkled; rebacked with portions of original spine and labels laid down.
Literature
Condition
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Catalogue Note
First edition of the full mishnah, the compilation of Oral Law gathered and arranged under six "orders" (sedarim) by Rabbi Judah the Prince in the later second century C.E. One of its tractates, the Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) had been already printed, including Maimonides' commmentary, in a quarto edition by Joshua Soncino in Soncino, ca. 1484–5 (Offenberg 93). The commentary on the Mishnah was the earliest of Maimonides' major writings, begun when he was in his early twenties, and intended to serve as an introduction to the Talmud. The numerous simple diagrams, for instance to illustrate varying interpretations of the laws of eruvin, established an iconography closely followed in many subsequent editions of the Talmud. In the editio princeps, each of the six orders comprises a separate composition unit. The colophon names besides Joshua Soncino two men who were probably financial partners: Joseph ibn Piso, and Abraham Talmid.