Sefer ha-Mitsvot (Book of the Commandments), Rabbi Moses Maimonides, [Venice: Alvise Bragadini, 1550]
The Babylonian Talmud teaches (Makkot 23b) that the Torah contains 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions corresponding to the number of days in a solar year and 248 positive mandates equal to the number of limbs in a human body. However, the Talmud does not specify which of the Bible’s many directives should be counted toward the total of 613. In the Middle Ages, rabbinic scholars began drawing up lists of which commandments they felt should be included. The most famous of these, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1138-1204), composed the Sefer ha-mitsvot in Judeo-Arabic as a type of introduction to his magnum opus, Mishneh torah, a comprehensive study of all of Jewish law.
The present lot is a copy of an early edition of this work, as translated into Hebrew by Moses ben Samuel Ibn Tibbon (fl. 1244-1283), which was printed together with the famous Bragadini edition of the Mishneh torah in Venice in 1550. The text was taken from the editio princeps of the Sefer ha-mitsvot (Constantinople, ca. 1510-1525) and was here appended to the Mishneh torah for the first time, with its own title page and foliation. Also for the first time, the strictures of Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (1194-1270) on Maimonides’ enumeration and methodology, which had originally been published in Constantinople in 1510, appear here alongside the Sefer ha-mitsvot.
CensorshipCamillo Jaghel, Lugo, 1611 (f. 41v)
Physical 41 folios (16 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.; 416 x 260 mm) (collation: i-iv8, v9) on paper. Slight scattered staining; corners rounded; ff. [1], 40-41 extensively remargined and ff. 31-33, 36-37 slightly remargined; gutters frequently strengthened, especially at rear, slightly affecting text on f. 34r-v; minor repairs in edges intermittently throughout; long repaired tear on f. 27; repaired tears in outer edges of ff. 37-38, affecting some text. Modern quarter leather over board, slightly scuffed; spine in five compartments with raised bands; author, title, place, and date lettered in gilt on spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
LiteratureJacob I. Dienstag, “Mishneh torah le-ha-rambam: bibliyyogerafyah shel hotsa’ot,” in Charles Berlin (ed.), Studies in Jewish Bibliography[,] History and Literature in honor of I. Edward Kiev (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1971), 21-108, at pp. 32-35 (no. 8).
Vinograd, Venice 408
https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001771795/NLICondition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact sharon.mintz.consultant@sothebys.com
Sefer ha-Mitsvot (Book of the Commandments), Rabbi Moses Maimonides, [Venice: Alvise Bragadini, 1550]
The Babylonian Talmud teaches (Makkot 23b) that the Torah contains 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions corresponding to the number of days in a solar year and 248 positive mandates equal to the number of limbs in a human body. However, the Talmud does not specify which of the Bible’s many directives should be counted toward the total of 613. In the Middle Ages, rabbinic scholars began drawing up lists of which commandments they felt should be included. The most famous of these, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1138-1204), composed the Sefer ha-mitsvot in Judeo-Arabic as a type of introduction to his magnum opus, Mishneh torah, a comprehensive study of all of Jewish law.
The present lot is a copy of an early edition of this work, as translated into Hebrew by Moses ben Samuel Ibn Tibbon (fl. 1244-1283), which was printed together with the famous Bragadini edition of the Mishneh torah in Venice in 1550. The text was taken from the editio princeps of the Sefer ha-mitsvot (Constantinople, ca. 1510-1525) and was here appended to the Mishneh torah for the first time, with its own title page and foliation. Also for the first time, the strictures of Rabbi Moses Nahmanides (1194-1270) on Maimonides’ enumeration and methodology, which had originally been published in Constantinople in 1510, appear here alongside the Sefer ha-mitsvot.
CensorshipCamillo Jaghel, Lugo, 1611 (f. 41v)
Physical 41 folios (16 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.; 416 x 260 mm) (collation: i-iv8, v9) on paper. Slight scattered staining; corners rounded; ff. [1], 40-41 extensively remargined and ff. 31-33, 36-37 slightly remargined; gutters frequently strengthened, especially at rear, slightly affecting text on f. 34r-v; minor repairs in edges intermittently throughout; long repaired tear on f. 27; repaired tears in outer edges of ff. 37-38, affecting some text. Modern quarter leather over board, slightly scuffed; spine in five compartments with raised bands; author, title, place, and date lettered in gilt on spine; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns.
LiteratureJacob I. Dienstag, “Mishneh torah le-ha-rambam: bibliyyogerafyah shel hotsa’ot,” in Charles Berlin (ed.), Studies in Jewish Bibliography[,] History and Literature in honor of I. Edward Kiev (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1971), 21-108, at pp. 32-35 (no. 8).
Vinograd, Venice 408
https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001771795/NLICondition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact sharon.mintz.consultant@sothebys.com
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
