Auction 82 - Part I - Judaica – Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art

Commentary of the Gaon of Vilna on Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer - Variant of the First Edition - Vilna and Horodna, 1819 - Signature of Rabbi Shmuel Heller

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Apei Ravrevei, Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer, sections 1-178, with Be'er HaGolah and Bi'ur HaGra, Chelkat Mechokek and Beit Shmuel. Vilna and Horodna, [1819].
The printing of Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer with the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna began in 1812, yet was interrupted shortly thereafter, due to Napoleon's invasion of Russia that year. The printers only managed to print sections 1-25 (and the beginning of section 26), without the title page. In 1819, the printing resumed, and sections 26-178, the title page and forewords were printed and bound with the incomplete copies printed in 1812. There is a significant difference between the two printings. The part printed in 1812 contains only the commentary of the Gaon of Vilna with the text of the Shulchan Aruch, while the Chelkat Mechokek and Beit Shmuel commentaries were to be printed as an addendum at the end of the book. In the part printed in 1819 however, the Chelkat Mechokek and Beit Shmuel commentaries were returned to their place on each page. In 1819, complementary leaves with the above commentaries pertaining to sections 1-25 were printed (since these sections were originally printed without the commentaries). Concurrently, in 1819, a complete edition of Even HaEzer was printed, in which even sections 1-25 were printed in the new format (with the Chelkat Mechokek and Beit Shmuel commentaries on each page). The current copy is of the third type, printed entirely in 1819.
On title page, signature and stamps (and ownership inscription) of R. Shmuel Heller (1786-1884), a leading Torah scholar and physician, who served as rabbi of Safed for sixty years.
Brief handwritten gloss on p. 79b.
4 pages, 5-61; 188 leaves. Misfoliation. 34 cm. Bluish paper. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains, and wear. Tears. Worming, affecting text. Stamps and handwritten inscriptions. New leather binding.
Vinograd, Thesaurus of the Books of the Vilna Gaon, no. 755.
The Gaon of Vilna and his Disciples
The Gaon of Vilna and his Disciples