Peirush Rashi al ha-Torah ve-Al Hamesh Megillot (Rashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch and on the Five Scrolls), Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1538

197 leaves ( 7 3/4 x 5 1/2 in.; 198 x 140 mm). Six decorative initial word frames. Title page strengthened, wormholes and marginal tears expertly repaired; paper repairs to corner and upper margin ff. 1-3, and to wormtrack ff. 8-12,  expertly repaired, affecting only a few letters; a few running titles shaved; owners' notations on endpapers; few marginal notations. Lightly stained. Early limp vellum, yapp edges; stained, some worming and cockling. Housed in modern cloth clamshell case, red morocco label, tiitles gilt.

Vinograd Venice 164; Habermann 154; Menahem Schmelzer, "Rashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch and on the Five Scrolls, Venice, Bomberg, 1538" in Menahem Schmelzer, Studies in Jewish Bibliography and Medieval Hebrew Poetry, NY: JTSA, 2006, pp. 96-105. Isaiah Sonne, "le-Bikoret ha-Text shel Peirush Rashi al ha-Torah" in HUCA, v.15 (1940), p. 40 (Hebrew section).

one of only three copies known and the only one in private hands

Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (1040-1105) is most commonly referred to by the Hebrew acronym, “Rashi.”  Author of the most widely disseminated and most comprehensive commentary on the Hebrew Bible, Rashi’s fame rests on his unparalleled ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise yet lucid fashion.  His exegesis is based on both literal and midrashic interpretations of the biblical text.  Accordingly, his commentary appeals to both beginning students and learned scholars and is an indispensable companion to both casual and serious students of Judaism’s primary text.

Sources variously give Rashi's surname as Yitzhaki, deriving from his father's name, Yitzhak, or Yarhi indicating that his family came from Lunel. The acronym, "Rashi," is sometimes also fancifully expanded as Rabban Shel Israel (Teacher of the Jewish People), or as Rabbenu she-Yihye (our Rabbi, may he live).

Within a century of his death in 1105, his Hebrew commentaries on the Bible and Talmud had spread from the communities of France and Germany to Spain, Africa, Asia and Babylonia. Considering the time and expense entailed in the production of handcopied books, the high cost of paper and parchment, and the great difficulties and obstacles encountered in their distribution in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the early popularity of Rashi, and the wide and unprecedented dissemination that his commentaries on the Bible achieved, are nothing short of remarkable. It is no wonder therefore that his commentaries were among the very first Hebrew printed works in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries.

This 1538 edition of Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch and  Five Scrolls, Bomberg’s second, features a full page colophon by the printer and editor of the volume,  Judah ben Isaac ha-Levi of Frankfort (called Leib Kulpa), who worked in several of Venice’s premier printing houses in the first half of the sixteenth century. Leib Kulpa in this colophon, takes a decidedly boastful tone, claiming superiority for this edition, over all earlier editions (pointedly naming the Soncino edition as inferior), based on his own prodigious efforts to maintain the highest standards of quality, especially in sourcing the best manuscripts from which to set type, as well as in his own skill in resolving variant readings. He also informs us that on the few occasions when he was unable to determine the correct reading on his own, he turned to a master grammarian, none other than Elijah Levita (Bahur), whose presence in Bomberg’s printing establishment coincided with the production of his own work, Masoret ha-Masoret.

In fact, Levita was so impressed with the work of Leib Kulpa, that he composed a laudatory poem, praising the young printer for his scholarly erudition as well as his technical expertise.  The colophon and the poem which follow it offer us a rare opportunity to gaze into some of the internal workings of a sixteenth century Venetian printing house.