Auction 93 Part 2 - Ancient Books, Chassidic and Kabbalistic Books, Manuscripts and Letters
Commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Menachem Recanati – First Edition – Venice, 1523 – One of the First Printed Kabbalistic Works
Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah, by R. Menachem Recanati. Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1523. First edition.
R. Menachem Recanati, a posek and kabbalist – one of the first Italian kabbalists in the 13th and 14th century.
The Recanati commentary on the Torah was one of the first kabbalistic book ever printed, and it contains many quotations from the Zohar (which was first printed only in 1558).
This is the second book proofread by the famous proofreader Yaakov son of Chaim ibn Adoniyahu (the first being Tzror HaMor, printed that year).
Several glosses in Sephardic script (partially trimmed).
[154] leaves. Lacking leaf [153]. Approx. 22 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including many dark dampstains. Worming, slightly affecting text, repaired in part with paper. Marginal open tears to final two leaves, affecting text on final leaf (margins of penultimate leaf trimmed with damage to heading), repaired with paper. Stamps. Old binding, with worming and defects.
Provenance: Estate of Prof. Ephraim Elimelech Urbach.