Rabbeinu Yerucham. Constantinople, 1516. Complete Copy in Special Condition

Rabbeinu Yerucham. Constantinople, 1516. Complete Copy in Special Condition

Toldot Adam V'Chava and Sefer Meisharim, by Rabbeinu Yerucham of Provence. Constantinople, [1516]. First edition. Copy in special condition.

Specifications: 272, [14]; 122 leaves. 26 cm. Ya'ari Kushta 50.

Unique features: Complete copy, including the leaves of indexes. First edition of the renowned halachic work by one of the foremost Rishonim, who the Beit Yosef quotes thousands (!) of times. Figure of a lion on the title page as the symbol of the printer Yehuda Sasson at the printing press of Shmuel Nachmias, and a small similar symbol at the end of the colophon. Refer to: A. Ya'ari, Diglei HaMadpisim HaIvri'im no. 8. Handwritten glosses.

Background: The book before us is the first book known to have been printed booklet by booklet, which were distributed on Shabbat in synagogues, so that the purchasers could pay by instalment and the printers did not have to invest large sums of money in advance only to receive the money after the entire book was printed, which, at the time, took many months. A halachic question was raised as to whether this is permitted on Shabbat. Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi ibn Chakim who permitted the matter in the polemic in 1546 regarding such a sale, relied on the precedent of Rabbeinu Yerucham's book, that the rabbi would preach about it in the synagogues on Shabbat.

One of the first products of the Hebrew printing press in Constantinople, which was the first Hebrew printing press in the oriental countries and in the Ottoman Empire.

Condition: Very fine. Magnificent leather binding.