Perush ha-Torah (Commentary on the Torah), Abraham ibn Ezra, Constantinople: Astruc de Toulon, 1514

87 leaves (10¾ x 7¾ in.; 274 x 197 mm). Title water-stained and soiled with worming and mends in fore- and gutter-margins, worming in fore-margin and waterstains in first few quires, occasional spotting and dampstaining in the later quires with a few mends; censors' inscription (Caesar Belliosus  and Jacob Geraldino, 1555) on final leaf; extensive marginalia, a few passages scored through. Nineteenth-century half cloth with red edges; edges and covers rubbed.

Vinograd, Constantinople 40; Yaari, Constantinople 24; Mehlman 623

87 leaves (10¾ x 7¾ in.; 274 x 197 mm). Title water-stained and soiled with worming and mends in fore- and gutter-margins, worming in fore-margin and waterstains in first few quires, occasional spotting and dampstaining in the later quires with a few mends; censors' inscription (Caesar Belliosus and Jacob Geraldino, 1555) on final leaf; extensive marginalia, a few passages scored through. 19th-century half cloth with red edges; edges and covers rubbed.
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Torah commentary of Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra (c. 1089-c.1168). Ibn Ezra, born in Tudela, Spain, was a person of considerable scholarship and accomplishments, as reflected by his commentaries on the Bible, poetry, grammars, philosophy, science, mathematics, and astrology. He left Spain in about 1140 and began a series of journeys through Italy, France, North Africa and the Middle East, reaching as far as London to the west and Baghdad to the east, before returning to Narbonne.  Most of ibn Ezra's works, written during the period of his travels, are in Hebrew, because the Jews of many of the lands he visited did not understand Arabic. Ibn Ezra's commentary, unlike those of earlier scholars, stresses the literal meaning, with emphasis on logical and grammatical analysis. His language is precise, even terse, and sarcastic when commenting on earlier, less exacting, works.