Mishneh Torah, Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), Fourteen Parts in Four Volumes, Constantinople: David and Samuel ibn Nahmias, 1509

14 parts in 4 volumes (10 ½ x 7 ¼ in.; 268 x 185 mm). foliation: Vol. I: Sefer ha-Madda: ff.41 (of 44). Opening title and first two leaves provided in facsimile. First few leaves laid to size.  Sefer Ahavah: ff.56. Sefer Zmanim: ff.176. Final quires supplied from another copy. Vol. II: Sefer Nashim: ff. 98. Tear to outer margin of f. 23 with loss of about 25 letters of text. Sefer Kedusha: ff. 100. Divisional title with decorative metalcut border; ff. 80-81, 96-100 remargined; f. 91 in duplicate. Vol. III: Sefer Hafla’ah: ff. 24. Sefer Zera’im: ff. 44. Sefer Avodah: ff. 40. Sefer Korbanot: ff. 18. Sefer Toharah: ff. 65. Peirush Hilkhot Kiddush ha-Hodesh: ff. 20. Vol. IV: Sefer Nezikin, Sefer Kinyan, Sefer Mishpatim, Sefer Shoftim: ff. 259. ff. 245-246 remargined, final folio laid to size. Scattered light staining; some quires lightly browned. Modern uniform blind-tooled calf with clasps and hinges.

Vinograd, Constantinople 16; Yaari, Constantinople 6; Mehlman 760. For a detailed discussion of the 1509 edition, see the introduction by Prof. S.Z. Havlin, in Mishne‑Torah of the Rambam: A Facsimile of the Constantinople Edition 1509, Jerusalem 1973. pp. 9-24.

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE EDITION

Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), also known by the acronym Rambam, was one of the most illustrious Jewish figures of all time. Born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135, Maimonides eventually settled in Cairo where he remained until his death in 1204. Though his reputation rests upon his excellence in a wide variety of fields, it is his magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, the first systematic code of Jewish law, which is considered to be his outstanding contribution to Jewish scholarship. Completed in 1180, the Mishneh Torah was the first comprehensive post-Talmudic code of Jewish law to be arranged according to subject matter and efficiently organized into fourteen discrete books. Written in a lucid and concise Hebrew it provided layman and scholar alike with an authoritative compilation of normative rulings. The Mishneh Torah served as a model for subsequent codifications of Jewish law, and remains to this day, a “living" text, widely studied and referred to throughout the Jewish world.

This exceptionally scarce edition of the Mishneh Torah was printed by the first Hebrew press in Constantinople. After the expulsion of the Jews by Ferdinand and Isabella in mid-1492, the Spanish-Jewish brothers David and Samuel ibn Nahmias sailed from Valencia to Naples carrying with them some of the typographical material from the Hebrew press of Alantansi and Zalmati in Hijar. These materials included the beautiful metalcut border (used in this edition of the Mishneh Torah) originally created by Alfonso Fernandez de Cordoba and which was first used in a Hebrew book in the Pentateuch with Haftarot and Five Scrolls printed by Alantansi (ca. 1487-8). An outbreak of plague in Naples caused them to flee to Constantinople, where Jewish refugees were welcomed by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, and where they printed their first book in 1493.

The present lot is the fourth printed edition of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, and the first edition with the important Hassagot (critical commentary) of Abraham ben David of Posquières (Raavad). Other commentaries included in this edition include: Maggid Mishneh by Vidal of Tolosa, Migdal 'Oz by Shem Tov ibn Gaon, and Haggahot Maimuniyyot by Meir ha-Kohen of Rothenburg. The colophon explains that the printers, David and Samuel Ibn Nahmias, sought to combine the text of the Mishneh Torah with all the important commentaries and to provide a high quality, yet inexpensive, alternative to seeking out each of these works separately. This appears to be the final book printed by the two brothers together, though their descendants continued to print Hebrew books in Constantinople until 1518.