Arba'ah Turim of Jacob ben Asher with the Beit Yosef by Joseph Caro, Venice: Giustiniani, 1550; Bragadin, 1551; Sabionetta: Tobias Foa, 1553, 1559

four parts in five volumes
Vol. I, Orah Hayyim: 483 [24 + 459] leaves (13 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.; 340 x 240 mm). Title page mounted affecting the architectural frame but not the text, repairs to first six and final two leaves and f. 330 affecting some text; lacking final leaf with Temple device. Soiled, stained; corners rounded. Birth records, ff. 129-30, occasional  manuscript commentary, e.g. f.104r, 147v.; ms. leaf bound between ff. 248-49; ownership notes on verso of title, ff. 3r, 24r of index; loose manuscript leaf. Modern half leather, gilt stamped on front board and spine.
Vols. II-III, Yoreh Deah, one part in two volumes: 428 [vol. I: [30], 1-217; vol. II: 218-398] leaves (12 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.; 323 x 223 mm). Title page repaired and mounted affecting a few letters of approbatory text on verso. Dampstaining; ownership note on first page of introduction. some light worming in final quire; final leaf torn at upper corner affecting a few letters of text; f. 103 misbound between ff. 101-102. Brown buckram, goldstamped titles on spine.
Vol. IV, Even ha-Ezer: 232 leaves (14 x 9 3/4 in.; 355 x 247 mm). Title page with tape repair, ff. 13, 20-25 inlaid. Marginal dampstaining; ff. 59-60 loose. Some worming in margins and final quire, affecting a few letters; occasional manuscript notations in margins; ownership notes on title. Brown buckram, goldstamped titles on spine.
Vol. V, Hoshen ha-Mishpat: 332 leaves (15 3/4 x 11 in.; 400 x 280 mm). Title page and final leaf mounted; tape repair f. 6. Wormed, especially at gutter; f. 324 misbound between 325- 326. Library stamps on several leaves including title page and final leaf; owner's inscription on title; censors' signatures on final leaf. Brown buckram, goldstamped titles on spine. 

Vinograd, Venice 387, 420; Sabionetta 7, 49; Steinschneider, 5500 (25, 33, 37, 41) Mehlman, 730-733.

A rare complete set of the first edition of  the Beit Yosef commentary on the Tur by Joseph Caro

The Beit Yosef is a detailed commentary to the Tur in which Caro carefully examined each of the laws recorded in the earlier code, showing the sources in Talmudic and medieval rabbinic literature, and comparing the interpretations and rulings of the leading medieval authorities. In general, Caro based his decisions on three earlier pillars of Jewish codification: the eleventh-century Spanish authority Rabbi Isaac Alfasi ("Rif"), Maimonides ("Rambam") and Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel ("Rosh," or "Asheri"), the father of the Tur's compiler. In cases of disagreement among those three, Caro usually followed the majority position.

The Beit Yosef addresses the necessity for the creation of a comprehensive code in its introduction where Caro decries the glut of law codes that fail to meet the needs of the Jewish people. Caro's aim was to distill what he saw as this proliferation of halakhic codes into a single detailed comprehensive work encompassing all applicable laws, from their source in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds through the codifiers to the present, without exception, explaining and resolving conflicting interpretations. Caro chose to follow the order and format of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's Tur and the Beit Yosef is divided into the same four parts:

Orah Hayyim ("The Path of Life"; see Psalms 16:11); this section deals with worship and ritual observance in the home and synagogue, through the course of the day, the weekly Sabbath and the festival cycle.

Yoreh De'ah ("Teacher of Knowledge"; see Isaiah 28:9); this section deals with assorted ritual prohibitions, especially dietary laws and regulations concerning menstrual impurity.

Even Ha-'Ezer ("The Rock of the Helpmate"; see 1 Samuel 5:1 and the Rabbinic interpretation of Genesis 2:18); this section deals with marriage, divorce and other issues in family law.

Hoshen Mishpat ("The Breastplate of Judgment"; see Exodus 28:15); this section deals with the administration and adjudication of civil law.

Caro, whose family was among those exiled from Spain in 1492, began work on the Beit Yosef in Adrianople in 1522, completing it twenty years later in Safed. A further eighteen years would pass before the entire work could be printed. The first volume, comprising Beit Yosef on Orah Hayyim was printed in Venice in 1550 at the press of Marco Antonio Giustiniani. The Beit Yosef on Yoreh De'ah however, was published the following year at the rival press of Alvise Bragadin. The ensuing bad blood between Bragadin and Giustiniani eventually led to papal intervention, the burning of the Talmud in 1553, and the cessation of all Hebrew printing in Venice for over a decade. Venice's loss inured to the benefit of the nascent press of Tobias Foa in Sabbionetta however, and it was there that the final two volumes of the Beit Yosef, (Even ha-Ezer, and Hoshen Mishpat) were printed in1553 and 1559, respectively.

The present lot represents a rare complete set of all four parts of the first edition of Caro's halakhic magnum opus.