Sefer Abudraham [Perush ha-Berakhot ve-ha-Tefillot] (Commentary on Blessings and Prayers), David ben Joseph Abudraham, Lisbon: [Eliezer ben Judah Toledano], 1 Tevet 5250 (25 November 1489)

170 leaves (10 5/8 x 7 ¾ in.; 270 x 190 mm). Double column, 34 lines + headline. COLLATION: 1¹⁰, 2–10⁸, 11⁶, 12–20⁸, 21¹⁰=170 leaves, f.170v blank, double leaf signatures. First leaf  with metalcut full border and metalcut initial, stained, mounted, but the border intact and strongly impressed; f. 170 mounted, ff. 2, 169 remargined, not affecting text; f. 169, loss at gutter, repaired affecting a few words; a few other minor marginal repairs; some wormtracks, repaired, occasionally affecting individual letters. Early foliation in Hebrew characters in brown ink; later pagination and foliation in pencil. Dampstain, ff. 1-23; four lines censored on f. 129r; censor's signature, f. 170r (Camillo Jaegel, 1619), pen trials, f. 170v. Modern blind tooled morocco.

Offenberg 1; Goff Heb-36; GW 8160; Steinschneider 4784.1; Thes B19; Iakerson 101; BMC XIII 96 (C.50c.16)

FIRST EDITION OF A RARE PRE-EXPULSION IBERIAN IMPRINT FROM LISBON

Abudarham, the classic commentary on Jewish liturgy is an eponymously titled work composed in Seville in 1340 by David ben Joseph Abudarham. The lack of a more descriptive title is likely attributable to the author's intention of having the work serve as a running commentary to the liturgy rather than as an independent work.

In the preface the author states that it is his desire to provide people with the means to use the liturgy in an intelligent manner. To these ends, he assembled material for the explanation of each portion of the prayer-book. His sources include the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmuds, the literature of the Geonim and all the commentaries available in his time. Recent scholarship has suggested that Abudarham based his text in large part on the work of Judah ben Jakar, from whose 12th century commentary Abudarham quotes liberally and literally, and without attribution. Nevertheless, it was Abudarham who succeeded, as no one else had before him, in generating what was to become a virtually indispensable commentary on Jewish liturgy.

Three introductory chapters, on the reading of the Shema (Deut. 6:4), the Amidah Prayer, and the various benedictions, precede the commentary, which begins with the Evening Prayer, and then follows the order of the prayer-book, chiefly of the Sephardic Minhag, from beginning to end: first the Daily Morning, Afternoon, and Evening Prayers: then the Sabbath, the New Moon, and the Passover Prayers (including the Passover Haggadah) and the Pentecost Prayer. Considerable space is given to the prayers of the Jewish fast-days in general, besides those of the national fast-days in commemoration of Jerusalem; then follow Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur and the Sukkot festival prayers. This section is followed by a chapter on the Haftarot, another  on the calendar, and a special discourse on the Tekufot and the superstitious beliefs concerning them. The final section, in nine chapters, discusses various benedictions.

The text contains two schematic diagrams, of the Temple and the Altar (ff. 23v, 24r), constructed with type-rules; and five tables similarly constructed giving calendrical information, including new moons (defining the starts of months), leap years, weekly portions, and parashot (134r, 137r, 137v, 139v, 140r).

The beautiful metalcut border used on the opening leaf had long migrations. The border was originally designed specifically for the Manuale Caesaraugustanum, probably produced by Fernandez de Cordoba in Valencia or Murcia. It was next used, in a Hebrew book, in the undated (ca. 1487-8) Pentateuch with Haftarot and Five Scrolls printed by Eliezer Alantansi in Híjar (Offenberg 15). Later still, it was used in Constantinople in the first decade of the sixteenth century.