Six Orders of the Mishnah, with commentary by R. Ovadia of Bartenura. Venice: Carlo Quirino, 1548-1549. First edition. Six volumes.
First edition of the renowned commentary of R. Ovadia of Bartenura to the Mishnah.
R. Ovadia Yareh of Bartenura (Bertinoro; ca. 1440 – ca. 1520), leading commentator of the Mishnah and prominent Torah scholar in his times. He served as rabbi in Italy, and later in Jerusalem, where he was held in very high esteem. He composed several works, though his magnum opus was undoubtedly his commentary to the Mishnah, which, just like Rashi on the Talmud, became the most basic and popular commentary, reprinted in thousands of editions until this day.
The present set comprises all six volumes of the first edition. The first three volumes were printed in 1548, and the last three volumes in 1549. Colophon of the publisher Meir son of Yaakov Parenzo at the end of the first two volumes. Poems in praise of the author at the end of the Kodashim volume. Most volumes mention on the title page R. Ovadia son of R. Zecharia, nephew of the author, as the one who brought the books to print.
Signature on title page of Order Mo'ed. Inscriptions on title page of Kodashim vol. and on verso of title page of Taharot vol. Marginal glosses and inscriptions in Sephardic script.
Six volumes. Zera'im: 2-73 leaves. Lacking title page (recto and verso replaced in photocopy on two separate leaves). Leaf 55 bound after leaf 58 (erroneously marked as leaf 64). Moed: 87 leaves. Nashim: 65 leaves. Lacking final leaf (replaced in photocopy). Nezikin: 3-85, [1] leaves. Lacking first two leaves (replaced in photocopy). Kodashim: 97, [1] leaves. Taharot: 126 leaves. 18.5-19.5 cm. Overall fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Many dampstains to vol. VI. Traces of past dampness with mold to vols. II and III. Wear. Tears, including open tears affecting text, repaired with paper. Large open tears to some leaves in vol. I, repaired with paper, with photocopy text replacement. Open tears to some title pages, repaired with paper, with photocopy text replacement. Worming, affecting text, repaired in part with paper. Marginal paper repairs in several places. Leaves trimmed with damage to headings in several places. New (matching) leather bindings.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.