Teshuvot ha-Rav (Responsa of the Master), Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, Constantinople: Eliezer ben Gershom Soncino, 1546-1547

303 leaves (12 x 7½ in.; 305 x 190 mm). COLLATION: 1-47⁶,1⁶, 2⁵; 3⁶, 4⁴=293 leaves. Includes both indexes, at end of text. Woodcut title frame; tape repair to lower border of title page not affecting frame; final leaf of first quire strengthened at gutter and lower margin renewed; occasional marginal repairs, some corners renewed, none affecting text; dampstaining; occasional light foxing; occasional marginalia. Recent brown half morroco over cloth.

Vinograd, Constantinople 193; Yaari, Constantinople 145; Hacker 145; Jaume Riera, 'On the Fate of R. Isaac bar Sheshet (Ribash) During the Persecutions of 1391', Sefunot 17 (1983), pp. 11-20 [Hebrew]; A. M. Habermann, Ha-Madpisim Bene Soncino, Vienna 1933, p. 78; Moses Marx, 'Gershom Soncino: Contributions to the history of his life and his printing', Sefer ha-Yovel li-khvod Professor Alexander Marx, ed. David Frankel, New York 1943, pp. I-X.

Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet served as rabbi of the Jewish community in Saragossa (Catalonia, Spain) from 1371 until 1391, when he moved to Valencia. The year 1391 saw wide-spread anti-Jewish riots, which struck hard in Valencia. In the face of the violence, Isaac fled Spain and settled in North Africa, where he became rabbi of Algiers. His responsa have wielded great influence on Halakhic discourse and are an important source for the social history of Jews in 14th century Spain and North Africa.

This work reflects yet another chapter in the history of the Soncino printing dynasty, the Italian Jewish family of German origin, who began printing Hebrew books in the town of Soncino in 1483. After establishing a number of presses across Italy, Gershom, who was the most prolific and succesful printer of his time, migrated to Turkey and in 1533 began printing Hebrew books in Constantinople where he died the following year. His son Eliezer succeeded him, and the present volume was the last book printed by Eliezer before his death. Teshuvot ha-Rav was sold weekly by kuntresim (quires) and distributed on the Sabbath in the synagogues. The practice of selling books in this manner was not uncommon in Constantinople.