Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides, Soncino: Gershom Soncino, 1490

379 leaves (11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in).; 300 x 210 mm), Types 3:90 (sq.), 2:119 (sq.), 1:240 (sq.). Metalcut border (cut into 4 pieces), metalcut initials letters, panels, and small decorative blocks (Thes A55.2, 3, 7). Double-column, 52 lines (variable). collation: 1–5⁸, 6:7¹², 8–29⁸, 29:1–29:8⁸, 1⁸, 31–39⁸, 40^{7 (of 8)}= 379 (of 380 leaves), lacking only the final blank (and with the blank leaf at 29:8/8 having been replaced in facsimile); 5/6r with three diagrams, the first apparently a crude woodcut and the second and third made by type rules, regarding the correct manufacture of tefillin; ff. 1-2 mounted with losses to the metalcut border on 2r expertly repaired; first 10 and last 7 leaves entirely or partially remargined; about a dozen more leaves with repaired corners, occasionally affecting a word or two; many leaves stained; passages censored on the recto of the last leaf. Vellum over stiff boards; soiled and stained; spines with speckled calf lettering pieces, gilt stamped titles.

Offenberg 88; Goff Heb-77; Hain 10523; Steinschneider 6513.2; Thes A55; Iakerson 43; BMC XIII 47 (C.50.e.7).

the author
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 moved to Fez, Morocco in 1160 and a few years later settled in Cairo where he remained until his death more than 800 years ago in 1204. His reputation rests upon his excellence in a wide variety of fields. His rabbinic works, the commentary on the Mishna and his list and analysis of the 613 commandments, Sefer ha·Mitzvot, as well as his philosophical masterpiece, Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed), a synthesis of Jewish and Aristotelian thought, are all considered classical Jewish texts. Maimonides, who served as the personal physician to the vizier of Egypt, also composed several works on medicine. It is however, his magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, the first systematic code of Jewish law, which is considered to be his outstanding contribution to Jewish scholarship.

the text
In the centuries after the completion of the Talmud, the monumental compendium of Oral Law, the need arose for a more accessible legal code. Relevant information on Jewish laws was scattered throughout the Talmud, making its retrieval unwieldy. The groundbreaking and all-encompassing Mishneh Torah, completed in 1180, became the first comprehensive post-Talmudic code of Jewish law to be arranged according to subject matter. Comprising the full range of Biblical, Talmudic and Rabbinic legislation, it was organized into fourteen discrete books. So that it could provide layman and scholar alike with an authoritative compilation of normative rulings, it was written in a lucid and concise Hebrew. The Mishneh Torah functioned as the authoritative code for Jewish communities across the diaspora and served as a model for subsequent codifications of Jewish law, such as the Tur by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher and the Shulhan Arukh by Rabbi Joseph Karo. To this day, the Mishneh Torah remains a “living" text, studied and referred to by rabbis and scholars alike.

The present lot is complete, including the rare first leaf, absent in most surviving copies, and only lacks the two blanks (29:8/8 and 40/8). This exceedingly rare second edition of Maimonides' halakhic masterwork was preceded only by the even scarcer editio princeps ([Italy?], city unknown: ca. 1475), and is among the most highly coveted of all Hebrew Incunabula. 

LITERATURE: Offenberg 88; Goff Heb-77; Hain 10523; Steinschneider 6513.2; Thes A55; Iakerson 43; BMC XIII 47 (C.50.e.7).