Shelom Esther, Isaac ben Mordecai Gershon, Constantinople: Joseph Jabez, [1575–1576]

32 leaves (5½ x 3¾ in.; 140 x 95 mm). Printer's ornaments on title; title strengthened at gutter margin and old shelfmark struck through with a few pen-trials; owner's inscription on title, censors' inscriptions (Domenico Irosolomitano, n.d.; Dominico Carretto, 1619) on final leaf; some light dampstaining and spotting, last leaf mended in gutter margin. Nineteenth-century half calf, shelfmark label on spine.

Joshua Segre—his inscription on title page

Vinograd, Constantinople 254; Yaari, Constantinople 225, Hacker 225; Mehlman 663

32 leaves (5½ x 3¾ in.; 140 x 95 mm). Printer's ornaments on title; title strengthened at gutter margin and old shelfmark struck through with a few pen-trials; owner's inscription on title, censors' inscriptions (Domenico Irosolomitano, n.d.; Domenico Carretto, 1619) on final leaf; some light dampstaining and spotting, last leaf mended in gutter margin. 19th-century half calf, shelfmark label on spine.
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Commentary on the book of Esther by Isaac ben Mordecai Gershon (d. after 1620), known as Isaac Gershon. Born in the Land of Israel, he later traveled to Constantinople where Shelom Esther was published.  This work is a compendium of the novellae of French and Castillian scholars on the Scroll of Esther, based on both Ashkenazic and Sephardic exegesis. The title page, which has the customary Jabez florets, is undated. This has led to some controversy as to the date of publication, the suggested dates ranging from 1575 to 1583. However, Isaac arrived in Venice, from Constantinople, no later than 1576, his name appearing that year in Moses di Trani's Beit Elohim (1576).  Isaac ben Mordecai Gershon was a scholar of considerable attainment. In Venice he served on the bet din and for more than thirty years worked as a proofreader, primarily of books by scholars from Safed, acting, in effect, as their agent.