Sefer Iyov im Perush (Book of Job with Commentary of Isaac ben Solomon ha-Kohen), Constantinople: Eliezer ben Gershom Soncino, 1545

8vo (8¼ x 6 in.; 210 x 152 mm). collation: 1-18^{8, 192=146 leaves, title border of printer's ornaments; final leaf typographical variant "b" as noted by Yaari; title supplied from a shorter copy with three margins renewed, waterstains in first and last few quires, leaf 18_{8 loosely inserted and browned. Cream cloth.}}

Vinograd, Constantinople 185, Yaari, Constantinople 139; William Popper, The Censorship of Hebrew Books, 38-40, 135-36

8vo (8¼ x 6 in.; 210 x 152 mm). collation: 1-188, 192=146 leaves, title border of printer's ornaments; final leaf typographical variant "b" as noted by Yaari; title supplied from a shorter copy with three margins renewed, waterstains in first and last few quires, leaf 188 loosely inserted and browned. Cream cloth.
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The author of this commentary on the book of Job, Isaac ben Solomon ha-Kohen lived in Constantinople in the first half of the sixteenth century. Printed by Eliezer ben Gershom Soncino in Constantinople in 1545, it is Isaac's only published work. In the introduction, ha-Kohen writes that in terms of his methodology, he follows in the footsteps of Menahem Me'iri of Perpignan. Scholars are well served by this invaluable resource as the commentary of Me'iri on Job has not been otherwise preseved.

The final leaves of this volume are notable for the numerous signatures of fifteenth and sixteenth century church censors. Although printed in the Ottoman Empire in 1545, within a decade, it had found its way to Italy where it underwent the first of several interactions with authorities of the Catholic Church.  After the burning of the Talmud across Italy in 1553, new restrictions arose for Hebrew books. In adherence to a papal bull dated May 29, 1554, the Church began to develop a mechanism for eliminating objectionable material from Hebrew books and by the summer of 1555, searches began of Jewish homes to remove books and undertake their censorship with the costs borne by the Jews themselves. The first instance of church censorship of Hebrew books under this new decree occurred in Sept of 1555; the censor was the Apostolic Comissioner Jacob Geraldino and he was assisted in his endeavors by Caesar Belliosus, Bishop of Bologna. According to the inscription on the final leaf of the present work, this copy of Isaac ha-Kohen's Commentary on Job was censored that same year by the same two churchmen, placing this volume among the very earliest known works to pass under the censor's pen. In the next three quarters of a century, this volume would undergo Church scrutiny three more times, being examined by Alessandro Scipio in 1590, Domenico Irosolomitano in 1598 and finally by Domenico Carretto in 1618. Ironically, a thorough perusal of this copy reveals that the work remains totally unexpurgated, with no censor's deletions or erasures whatsoever.