Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Avot Printed on Blue Paper, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1521

Folio (12¾ x 8¾ in.; 324 x 222 mm). collation: 1^{8, 25=13 leaves; dampstain in fore-margin mended in last two leaves. Half buckram.}

Moses Gaster—his stamped signature on verso of title page

Vinograd, Venice 35; Habermann 44

Folio (12¾ x 8¾ in.; 324 x 222 mm). collation: 18, 25=13 leaves; dampstain in fore-margin mended in last two leaves. Half buckram.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Avot (Fathers), is frequently referred to as Pirkei Avot, "the Chapters of the Fathers", and is traditionally located toward the end of the fourth order, Nezikin. It may once have been placed at the very end of the sixth order, Tohorot, as a coda to the Mishnah as a whole. By tracing (in its first two chapters) the uninterrupted transmission of tradition from the Sinaitic revelation through the leading tannaim of the generation after the destruction of the Second Temple, the treatise provides the credentials, as it were, of these teachers and their subsequent students. In effect, it declares that in these teachers and their loyal disciples will be found the unbroken and authoritative instruction which began at Sinai. Thus Avot serves as the underpinning of the authority of the Mishnah and by extension, the Talmud as a whole.

The commentary that accompanies the text is that of Maimonides.