Mishnah Seder Zera'im, with commentaries of Moses ben Maimon and Samson of Sens, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1521

Zera'im (seeds) is the first of the six orders of the Mishnah.  With the exception of the first tractate, Berakhot, all the tractates in Zera'im deal with agricultural laws which apply in the Land of Israel.  It is not surprising therefore that while there is a gemara in the Jerusalem Talmud for the whole of the order Zera'im, the Babylonian Talmud only has gemara for Berakhot. As a result, Daniel Bomberg, printed tractate Berakhot as a separate volume.  The balance of the order Zera'im, was supplemented with the commentaries of Maimonides and Samson of Sens and is presented here. This volume of the Mishnaic order Zera'im is one of three (the other two being Kodashim and Tohorot) that Bomberg's press produced as part of the first edition of the Babylonian Talmud.  Bomberg's decision to include these three orders of the Mishnah insured that all 63 tractates would be presented and not only those with Gemara. The colophon bemoans the fact that the printers only had access to a single manuscript of the commentary of Samson of Sens and encourages readers to insert corrections. A contemporary hand has done just that by adding glosses supplementing the text (e.g. 47r, 49r.)