Arba'ah Turim (Four Rows), Jacob ben Asher, Soncino: Solomon ben Moses Soncino [1490]

350 leaves, 4 volumes bound in one (11 3/4 x 9 in.; 298 x 230 mm).  collation: book I, (complete, though misbound as follows: 1-9⁸, 10.1-7, 11.8, 12.1-5, 11.1, 10.8, 11.2-7, 12.6) =94 leaves; book II, 1-10⁸;=80 leaves; book III, 1-5⁸, 6¹⁰=50 leaves; book IV, 1-15⁸, 16⁶= 126 leaves. Decorative woodcut frame, f.7. Numerous pen trials and owner's notations, f.1r; scattered owner's inscriptions and marginalia. Lightly soiled and stained. Minor hole repaired at gutter, book I, 4⁵ repaired; marginal tear, book III, 4³. Old half morocco in period style, spine in five compartments.

Salomon Jakob Florsheim (1893-1979)- his bookplate on inside front cover

Vinograd, Soncino 38; Offenberg 62; Goff Heb-48; Steinschneider, col. 1182, no. 5500, 2; Zedner, p. 296; BMC XIII, p. 48; Iakerson, 42.

second edition

In 1303, Jacob ben Asher, along with his father (and teacher) Asher ben Jehiel (the Rosh), departed from Germany and resettled in Toledo, Spain. In his magnum opus, the Arba’ah Turim, Jacob developed a convenient and concise approach to Jewish law; its simple style and wealth of content, made it a basic work in Hebrew law, where it opened a new era in the realm of halakhic codification. The Arba’ah Turim , also called the Tur, served as an important bridge between the two medieval centers of European Jewry and helped to inform the Sephardi Jews of the Iberian Peninsula of the opinions of the French and German rabbis of Ashkenaz.

The complete work is divided into four sections called Turim (rows). Part I, Orah Hayyim, contains 697 chapters and deals with blessings, prayers, the Sabbath, festivals, and fasts; Part II, Yoreh De'ah, 403 chapters on Issur ve-Hetter (ritual law), commencing with the laws of ritual slaughter and kashrut and ending with chapters on usury, idolatry, and mourning; Part III, Even ha-Ezer, 178 chapters on laws affecting women, particularly marriage, divorce, halizah, and ketubbah; Part IV, Hoshen Mishpat, 427 chapters on civil law and personal relations.

The superiority of the work soon led to its dissemination throughout the Diaspora. Its authority was recognized and accepted by all Jewish scholars throughout the generations, many of whom (including the likes of Joseph Caro, Moses Isserles, Isaac Aboab, Jacob ibn Habib, Joel Sirkes, and Hayyim Benveniste) used it as the point of departure for their own writings. In fact, when Caro wrote his major work, the Beit Yosef, he based it on the Arba'ah Turim. This in turn was the basis for the Shulhan Arukh which ultimately took its place as the unchallenged halakhic code par excellence. 

An exquisite white-on-black, engraved border opens the text of this edition of Arba'ah Turim. Featuring an intricate floral background and typical Renaissance motifs, this beautiful frame first appeared in the 1485 edition of Aesop's Fables produced by the Italian printer Francesco del Tuppo. The frame was subsequently sold to Joshua Solomon ben Israel Nathan of the Soncino printing dynasty, who first used it in a Hebrew book in his 1487 edition of Rashi's commentary. It has been called by Cecil Roth, "one of the loveliest specimens of fifteenth century Italian book production."