Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom)

Perush ha-Torah (Commentary on the Pentateuch). [Mantua]: Abraham ben Solomon Conat and Abraham Jedidiah, [1475–76]



Median folio (12¾ x 9 in.; 324 x 230 mm). Types 1:113(sc.), 2:140(sq.). Double column, 42 lines. collation: [1–18^{10 198; 2010 216 2210 238 2410 258 2610 2710 (5+1) 28-3010; 31–3210 33–348 3510; 368 37–4210 436]: 408 (of 411 leaves);  lacking only the three final blanks 43/4–6, blank 35/10 is preserved, lengthy marginal note in Hebrew on 17/10v, light scattered staining, a heavier corner stain on 6 leaves at the end, but the paper fresh and firm, some deckle edges preserved at upper margins, sheets 35/5 and 37/5 loose in their quires, never sewn. Eighteenth-century Italian pattern paper boards, sheep spine, mottled red edges; the covers worn. Brown cloth folding case.}

Signature of Elijah ben Isaac Japheth; and what may be an owner's ink symbol. Censors' signatures: Isaiah of Rome, 1623; Hippolytus Ferrariensis, 1601; Laurentius Franguellus,1575; and Giovanni Dominico Carretto, 161[5?]

Offenberg 50; Goff Heb-69; Hain 10060; Steinschneider 6138.3; Thes A10; Iakerson 16; BMC XIII 17 C.50.d.2. See further A. K. Offenberg, "The Chronology of Hebrew Printing at Mantua in the Fifteenth Century: A Re-examination," The Library 6th ser. 16 (1994) 298-315.

Perush ha-Torah (Commentary on the Pentateuch). [Mantua]: Abraham ben Solomon Conat and Abraham Jedidiah, [1475–76] Median folio (12¾ x 9 in.; 324 x 230 mm). Types 1:113(sc.), 2:140(sq.). Double column, 42 lines. collation: [1–1810 198; 2010 216 2210 238 2410 258 2610 2710 (5+1) 28-3010; 31–3210 33–348 3510; 368 37–4210 436]: 408 (of 411 leaves); lacking only the three final blanks 43/4–6, blank 35/10 is preserved, lengthy marginal note in Hebrew on 17/10v, light scattered staining, a heavier corner stain on 6 leaves at the end, but the paper fresh and firm, some deckle edges preserved at upper margins, sheets 35/5 and 37/5 loose in their quires, never sewn. Eighteenth-century Italian pattern paper boards, sheep spine, mottled red edges; the covers worn. Brown cloth folding case.
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First edition, and the largest and most ambitious of the books printed by Conat in Mantua. Only one of the Mantua books is dated (Offenberg 64: 6 June 1476): the probable sequence of the others, preceding it, has been convincingly argued by A. K. Offenberg. It is curious that in the final quire of the Gersonides, Conat used three sheets to print what required only three leaves, thus creating three blanks at the end. The blank leaves are missing from virtually all copies, but are preserved in the Cambridge copy (Oates 2589), which is in a contemporary binding. The collation given here, totaling 411 and not 412 leaves, varies slightly from that given by BMC XIII and other sources. Quire 27 is usually described as containing twelve leaves, of which the seventh is blank (preserved in the Cambridge copy). However, that blank leaf interrupts the text, and was intended to be cut away, leaving just a stub (visible in this copy). Thus, the ideal collation of this quire is to be given as 27¹⁰ (5+1), that is, with a single leaf inserted after fol. 5. It is noteworthy that this single leaf ends with a catchword that matches up to 27/6, thus giving an instruction to the binder on where to place it.