Bahya ben Asher

Perush ha-Torah (Commentary on the Pentateuch). Naples: Azriel ben Joseph Ashkenazi Gunzenhauser for Abraham and Jacob Pax, 8 Tamuz 5252 (3 July 1492)



Chancery folio (10¼ x 7 3/8 in.; 261 x 187 mm). Types 4:246 (sq.), 2B:88 (sq.). Woodcut full-page border, passepartout, and elaborate panel with initial word for Genesis (Thes A74.1, 3). Double column, 48 lines + headline. collation: 1–9^{8 1010 11–358 366: 284 (of 288 leaves), an earlier flyleaf retained, with a Hebrew inscription dated 5538 (= 1778); lacking the final blank and fols. 1 (with passepartout), 8, and 287 (with colophon), fols. 1 and 287 supplied by photostats, fols. 2–4 with crude marginal repairs, the woodcut border on 2r partly shaved with loss to right side, the same border on 148v, intact but shaved on three sides, outer margin of 34/1 crudely reinforced, upper corner of 12/1 reinforced with slight text loss, on 24/6–8 and 25/1, portions cut out of each leaf at top middle, and re-patched with text supplied in manuscript, last five leaves with staining and wormholes. Nineteenth-century goatskin, edges sprinkled; endleaves renewed, inner hinges reinforced.}

Shmuel ben Daniel (purchased from Shimshon ben (...) in the year 5451 [1690/91]) — Elkan Nathan Adler (bookplate)

Offenberg 8; Goff Heb-6; GW 3172; Steinschneider 4525.1; Thes A74; Iakerson 55; BMC XIII 65 (C.50.c.21)

Perush ha-Torah (Commentary on the Pentateuch). Naples: Azriel ben Joseph Ashkenazi Gunzenhauser for Abraham and Jacob Pax, 8 Tamuz 5252 (3 July 1492) Chancery folio (10¼ x 7 3/8 in.; 261 x 187 mm). Types 4:246 (sq.), 2B:88 (sq.). Woodcut full-page border, passepartout, and elaborate panel with initial word for Genesis (Thes A74.1, 3). Double column, 48 lines + headline. collation: 1–98 1010 11–358 366: 284 (of 288 leaves), an earlier flyleaf retained, with a Hebrew inscription dated 5538 (= 1778); lacking the final blank and fols. 1 (with passepartout), 8, and 287 (with colophon), fols. 1 and 287 supplied by photostats, fols. 2–4 with crude marginal repairs, the woodcut border on 2r partly shaved with loss to right side, the same border on 148v, intact but shaved on three sides, outer margin of 34/1 crudely reinforced, upper corner of 12/1 reinforced with slight text loss, on 24/6–8 and 25/1, portions cut out of each leaf at top middle, and re-patched with text supplied in manuscript, last five leaves with staining and wormholes. Nineteenth-century goatskin, edges sprinkled; endleaves renewed, inner hinges reinforced.
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.

First edition. Bahya ben Asher was a disciple of Solomon Ibn Adret, and supposed to have lived in Zaragoza. His Pentateuch commentary, completed in the early 1290s, is of special importance for its Kabbalistic elements, and was frequently reprinted in the sixteenth century, including by Gershom Soncino in Pesaro, 1507. The colophon of this edition is unusually explicit, naming everyone involved in its making: the financiers Abraham and Jacob Pax (Paktz) of Sicily; Azriel ben Joseph Ashkenazi (Gunzenhauser), the printer; Azriel's brother-in-law Moses ben Isaac, "skilled in carving in wood"; the workmen Gur Aryeh Jehudah called Leon ben Solomon Venicolo and Abraham ben Jacob Landau; Solomon ben Peretz Bonfoy Zarfati, editor; and Samuel ben Hezekiah ha-Levi, corrector.

The impressive woodcut border has been much discussed, but with a persistent misinterpretation. It has been stated repeatedly that since its right-hand border is broader than that of the left, this "proves" that it was designed for a Latin or Italian book, where it would sit appropriately on a recto page. Indeed, the border was so used, contemporaneously with the Perush ha-Torah, in the editio princeps of Bruno Aretino's Aquila volante, completed in Naples by Ayolfo de Cantono on 27 June 1492 (Goff B-1231). However, there can be little doubt that the border, like the other woodcut decorative elements, was designed specifically for the Perush ha-Torah, whose colophon highlights the woodcutting skills of Moses ben Isaac. The border appears three times in the edition (beginning pages of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus): always, appropriately, on verso pages with broad right margins, and designed for that purpose. In the present lot however, the border for Genesis, has been misbound and appears on the recto rather than in its proper place on the verso.