Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome

Sefer ha-Mahbarot (Book of Poems). Brescia: Gershom Soncino, 26 Marheshvan 5252 (30 October 1491)



Chancery 4to (7½ x 5 5/8 in, 191 x 145 mm). Types 2:90 (sc.), 3:90 (sq.), 4:136 (sq.), 1:240 (sq.). Metalcut initials and small symbols of the zodiac (Thes A77.1-2). 34 lines, variable. collation: 1–6^{8 74 8–208 214: 159 (of 160 leaves); lacking only fol. 1, blank, vocalizations added to the square text type in places; fols. 155, 156, and 159 remargined, without text loss, scattered stains and spotting, closely trimmed in the upper margin of the last two quires, occasionally just touching an ascender of the top lines. Late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century Italian limp vellum, edges plain.}

Shmuel (early inscription on last page, the remainder of his name lost to marginal repairs). Censor's signature: Giovanni Dominico Carretto, 1617.

Offenberg 58; Goff Heb-43; Hain 9137; Steinschneider 5269.1; Thes A77; Iakerson 66; BMC XIII 68 (C.50.b.20)

Sefer ha-Mahbarot (Book of Poems). Brescia: Gershom Soncino, 26 Marheshvan 5252 (30 October 1491) Chancery 4to (7½ x 5 5/8 in, 191 x 145 mm). Types 2:90 (sc.), 3:90 (sq.), 4:136 (sq.), 1:240 (sq.). Metalcut initials and small symbols of the zodiac (Thes A77.1-2). 34 lines, variable. collation: 1–68 74 8–208 214: 159 (of 160 leaves); lacking only fol. 1, blank, vocalizations added to the square text type in places; fols. 155, 156, and 159 remargined, without text loss, scattered stains and spotting, closely trimmed in the upper margin of the last two quires, occasionally just touching an ascender of the top lines. Late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century Italian limp vellum, edges plain.
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First edition, the first book printed by Gershom Soncino at his second press, in Brescia. This move inaugurated his "wander years," which led him eventually to print also in Barco, Fano, Pesaro, Ancona, Ortona, Rimini, Ancona, Cesena, Salonica, and Constantinople. Immanuel of Rome, ca. 1261–1328, composed poetry in a wide variety of topics and of verse forms, both those of classical Hebrew poetry and of Italian poetry including the Petrarchan sonnet. In one of the poems Immanuel narrates a journey to heaven and hell, inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. Because of its highly secular and often erotic elements the legal code Shulhan Arukh forbade the reading of Immanuel's poetry, a prohibition of doubtful effectiveness.

In many if not all copies, the inner sheet of quire 4 (folios 3-6 = pages 5–12 of the quire) was printed with misimposed type-pages, producing incorrect textual order. The beginning or distinctive words of the pages in correct reading order, transliterated, are: page 5, line 8: ha-makhberet ha-khamishit [beginning of pt. V] — page 6, line 1: b'ni y'okhal — page 7, line 2: p'loni' yish'alu — page 8, line 1: arukh p'loni orekh og — page 9, line 1: va-yomer ha-sar yesh li eved — page 10, line 2: ahavat ha-av — page 11, line 1: kin'at am ha-'aretz — page 12, line 1: va-'omrah. In this copy, both formes of the sheet were misimposed, so that the pages were printed in the order: fol. 3r = page 5, fol. 4v = page 6, fol. 5r = page 7, fol. 5v = page 8, fol. 4r = page 9, fol. 3v = page 10, fol. 6r = page 11 and fol. 6v = page 12.