Mehir Yayin, Moses Isserles, Cremona: 1559

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

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Description

24 leaves (7 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.; 195 x 145 mm). Wood block initials on title page and incipit; manuscript owners' notes and geometric drawings on f.1v, 24v; added foliation in pencil from left to right; censored in press, 24r. Leaves strengthened at gutter; lightly stained. Early limp vellum.

Provenance

Joseph Hayim Ashkenazi-his inscription within the woodcut initials of the title page and the historiated initial on f. 2r; Menahem ben Joseph-his signature on 24v.

Literature

Meir Benayahu, Hebrew Printing at Cremona, Jerusalem 1971, pp. 209-210; Vinograd, Cremona 27.

Catalogue Note

Rabbi Moses Isserles (ca. 1530-1572), commonly referred to by the acronym ReMA, is widely recognized as the legal decisor par excellence for European (Ashkenazic) Jews. A major rabbinic figure in Cracow, he was also a polymath who wrote glosses on works of history, astronomy, philosophy and mysticism. He played a crucial role in the transition of Ashkenazic culture into the Early Modern period.

Mehir Yayin, his first published book, was composed in 1556, while the Cracow community had fled to Szydlow because of an outbreak of the plague. This commentary on the Book of Esther, which Isserles composed before the age of 30, was presented to his father, Rabbi Israel, as a Purim gift (mishloah manot). In his introduction, Isserles explains that he sees the Book of Esther as a metaphor for the ages of man, following life from birth through to old age and death.