Hilchot Rav Alfas. Venice, 1522. Signatures and Glosses

Hilchot Rav Alfas. Venice, 1522. Signatures and Glosses

Hilchot Rav Alfas (Ri"f), Part III - Nezikin. With commentaries by Rash"i, the Ra"n and the Nimukei Yosef, and with Tosefta and Mordechai, Bomberg Press. Venice, 1522. There are approximately 10 glosses in early Italian script among the leaves of the book.

Before us is the second edition of the Ri"f, and the first(!) edition with Rash"i's commentary on the Ri"f. The copy before us includes tractates: Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia and Bava Batra. The first word of each of the three tractates is written in a huge font, illustrated and inside a decorative frame. Inside the huge words of the title in Tractates Bava Kamma and Bava Metzia are ancient Italian owner's notations from the 1500s. In Tractate Bava Batra, there is an owner's notation at the top of the page, in standard form.

In the years following this edition of the Ri"f, there was a decree on Italian Jews regarding sefarim until on Rosh HaShanah 1553, there was a final decree that the Talmud be burned in Rome. But Hashem left us a remnant, and the books by the Ri"f were not banned and were allowed to be used. As such, the major study by Italian sages those years was of the books by the Ri"f. The owner's inscriptions and glosses before us have not been examined, but it is probable that their writer was one of the Italian sages of the period.

263 leaves, 32.5 cm. (Originally 392 leaves, and also includes parts of Tractates: Sanhedrin-Avodah Zarah.) Lacking title page. Haberman, Defusei Bombergi 69.

Fine condition: Aging stains. Worming perforations. Ancient semi-leather binding.