Hamisha Humshei Torah, u-Nevi'im Rishonim ve-Ahronim u-Ketuvim (Hebrew Bible), Amsterdam: Menasseh ben Israel, 1631-36

497 leaves (8 ½ x 6 ¼ in.; 215 x 160 mm). Printed in double-columns with cantillation and vocalization (Nikud). General Hebrew title within architectural frame; separate general Latin title with printer's mark of Henricus Laurentius. The three Hebrew divisional titles dated 1631; general titles and colophon dated 1635. FOLIATION: [1], 1-369 [1], 1-124 [2]. COLLATION: [¹], 1-63⁴, 64², 65-93⁴, 1-31⁴, 32². Marginal notations in red ink; several excised, repaired, and re-written. Very lightly browned and stained. Later three quarter brown morocco over green cloth.

Sam Shipley- his inscription on title; Moses Gaster, Romanian-born Jewish-British scholar, the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in London, and noted bibliophile-his signature on title.

 

Vinograd, Amsterdam 34; Fuks, Amsterdam 153. See also:Treasures from the Library Ets Haim/Livraria Montezinos (Jerusalem 1980) No. 95, p. 56-57.

THE SECOND, AND MOST IMPORTANT EDITION OF THE BIBLE PREPARED BY MENASSEH BEN  ISRAEL

In his introduction, Menasseh ben Israel writes: "In preparing this work I used the four most accurate editions, and in places where there were variant readings, I relied on the rules of grammar and the Masorah." 

This fully vocalized and accentuated Hebrew Bible was printed at the request and at the expense of the Amsterdam printer and publisher, Henricus Laurentius, who, among other publications of Menasseh's, also financed the unvocalized Hebrew Bible edition of 1630. As a result of Laurentius' financial involvement in Menasseh's printing activities, Menasseh was able to strengthen his own position, within Amsterdam as well as on the international market. Due to the length of time that passed between the project's inception in 1631 and its culmination in 1635, the main title page was reprinted to reflect the new date. The divisional title pages simply had the final digit of the secular year corrected by hand, in order to read 1636 instead of 1631. The present copy was formerly in the collection of Hakham Moses Gaster.