Sha'arei Dura, Isaac ben Meir Dueren, Lublin: Kalonymus ben Mordecai Jaffe [1574]

110 leaves (11 ¾ x 7 ¾ in.; 298 x 195 mm). Title within elaborate decorative frame; two decorative initial word panels; printer’s device, f.3v. Lightly browned and stained; some worming, occasionally affecting a few words or letters. Leaves strengthened at gutter; scattered marginalia. Later decorated paper boards.

Vinograd, Lublin 32.

For Ashkenazi Jews, Sha’arei Dura, written by Isaac ben Meir of Dueren in the late 13th century, was the most important halakhic code in all matters concerning dietary laws and issues of family purity, until the appearance of Joseph Caro’s Shulhan Arukh. In this edition, Dueren’s text is flanked by the commentaries of Israel Isserlein (Terumat ha-Deshen) and Nathan Nata ben Samson Shapira (Mevo Sha’arim). The date of publication is derived from the statement on the title page that the book was printed during the reign “of our lord King Henry.” Henry III (1551- 89), third son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, was crowned as King of Poland on February 21, 1574, serving for only a few months before abandoning Poland on July 18 of that year.