Perush ha-Torah al Derekh ha-Emet (Commentary on Pentateuch following the True Path), Menahem Recanati, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1523

156 leaves (9 3/8 x 6 7/8 in.; 238 x 175 mm) including final blank. Woodcut initial word panel on first sectional title and fine metalcut head-pieces on sectional titles; title leaf waterstained and strengthened in gutter margin, second leaf mended in upper outer margin, other minor mends, a few instances of censorship; owners' inscriptions on flyleaf, title and first sectional title; censors' signatures (Alessandro Scipione 1593; Domenico Irosolomitano 1597; Giovanni Dominico Carreto, 1617) on final text leaf. Nineteenth-century calf, gold-tooled frame and central gold-stamped urn, spine gilt with red and blue labels, yellow edges, blue silk place marker; backstrip torn, corners and edges worn, scuffed.

Benjamin Isaro- his inscription on title and first text leaf; Nahum Duber Friedman-Hassidic Rebbe of Sadigora-his stamp, bookplate and inscription. The additional stamp indicates that this was a personal acquisition rather than a gift from a follower or an inheritance.

Vinograd, Venice 85; Haberman 84

156 leaves (9 3/8 x 6 7/8 in.; 238 x 175 mm) including final blank. Woodcut initial word panel on first sectional title and fine metalcut head-pieces on sectional titles; title leaf waterstained and strengthened in gutter margin, second leaf mended in upper outer margin, other minor mends, a few instances of censorship; owners' inscriptions on flyleaf, title and first sectional title; censor's signatures (Alessandro Scipione 1593; Domenico Irosolomitano 1597; Giovanni Domenico Carreto, 1617) on final text leaf. Nineteenth-century calf, gold-tooled frame and central gold-stamped urn, spine gilt with red and blue labels, yellow edges, blue silk place marker; backstrip torn, corners and edges worn, scuffed.
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Copy of the Rebbe of Sadigora

Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati (late 13th-early 14th centuries), was an Italian kabbalist and halakhic authority. In addition to the present lot, his written oeuvre consists of two additional kabbalistic works: a commentary on prayer and a treatise on the commandments as well as a single halakhic work. His commentary on the Pentateuch is permeated with early Kabbalistic doctrine and it is the first work to quote from the Zohar and the Bahir and other early esoteric works. As a result the doctrines of many kabbalists whose writings are otherwise unknown have been preserved. The author seems to be particularly indebted to Nahmanides, whom he refers to as "the great rabbi". Recanati's commentary proved so popular that it inspired two supercommentaries, one by Mattathias Delacrut and the other by Mordecai Jaffe. The commentary of Recanati was also among the kabbalistic texts translated into Latin by the Italian Humanists in an endeavor to use the esoteric doctrines of Judaism to achieve a better understanding of their own faith.

The editor of the present work, as of many of the other books printed by the Bomberg press in this period, was Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah. In his preface, he acknowledges the serious nature of his endeavor, imploring readers to only delve in those parts of the work that they are capable of comprehending and to avoid attempting to explain what is not given to them to understand, and not to reveal the secrets to any who are not worthy.