Mahzor according to Roman Rite, Mantua:Meir Ephraim of Padua, 1556-1560

210 leaves (11 x 7 1/2 in.; 280 x 190 mm). Decorated title page within architectural frame, numerous decorated initial word panels and three illustrations. Leaves laid to size and strengthened at gutter; tape repairs; stained and soiled. Censored by Domenico Irosolomitano, 1597 and Domenico Carretto, 1618. Modern half calf over marbled boards

Professor Ariel Toaff- his bookplate on front pastedown endpaper.

Steinschneider 2581; Vinograd, Mantua 42; D. Kaufmann, "Meir B. Ephraim of Padua, Scroll-Writer and Printer in Mantua," The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 11, (2). pp. 266-290.; Simha  Assaf, " "La-Pulmus al Hadpasat Sifrei Kabbalah,"  Mekorot u-Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael (1946), 246-328).

This comprehensive volume includes numerous improvements over earlier editions of the Roman rite liturgy. These are proudly enumerated in the colophon as is the inclusion of new material such as Megillat Antiochus and the commentaries of Maimonides and Rashi to Pirkei Avot.  The Mahzor also includes several interesting illustrations including woodcut images of Matzah and Maror in the Haggadah section. Another fascinating illustration serves as an aid to understanding the midrashic interpretation of the splitting of the Red Sea into twelve separate channels, one for each tribe.  According to the Tosafist commentary on Tractate Arakhin (15a), the individual channels were, as illustrated here, a series of concentric semi-circles. By this account, the Israelites exited the Red Sea on the same eastern bank from which they had entered. While this might seem to conflict with the popular notion that the Israelites crossed the sea, it accords with the rabbinic understanding of the biblical verse (Exodus 14:29) "The children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea."

The title page of this Mahzor indicates that work was begun in December of 1556 while the colophon reveals that it was not completed until June of 1560. The inordinate amount of time required to complete the work can perhaps be explained by an assessment of other another contemporary event transpiring in Hebrew printing in Mantua during the same period. In 1556 Meir ben Ephraim of Padua founded a printing establishment in Mantua where he would soon be joined by Jacob ben Naphtali of Gazolo. Their considerable contribution to the printing of Hebrew books would include the first edition of the Zohar, arguably the most important work in Kabbalistic literature.

Since the production of the Mahzor had commenced before work had begun on the Zohar, one could reasonably assume that the Mahzor would be completed first. The fact that the completion of the Zohar predated the culmination of the printing of the Mahzor would seem to indicate that the printers chose to set aside the Roman rite Mahzor in favor of the kabbalistic treatise.