BABYLONIAN TALMUD WITH COMMENTARIES OF RABBIS SAMUEL ELIEZER HA-LEVI EDELS AND SOLOMON LURIA, AMSTERDAM: JOSEPH, JACOB, AND ABRAHAM BENEI SOLOMON PROOPS KATZ, 1752-1765

The second Amsterdam edition of the Babylonian Talmud.

In 1644-1648, Immanuel Benveniste issued, in small folio-format, the first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud to appear in Amsterdam. More than a century would pass before a second, large folio edition was published in the city, this time by the famous Proops firm, based largely on the Frankfurt am Main printing of 1720-1722. Between 1752 and 1757, Joseph (d. 1786) and Jacob (d. 1779) Proops finished the first half of the Talmud, through Tractate Ketubbot, initially on their own but later in partnership with their brother Abraham (d. 1792). As an appendix, they also issued, in 1755, a volume comprising the Talmudic commentaries of Rabbis Samuel Eliezer ha-Levi Edels (Maharsha; 1555-1631) and Solomon Luria (Maharshal; ca. 1510-1574). Probably for financial reasons and due to a competing edition being printed at the same time in Sulzbach, production was interrupted from 1757 until 1763, at which point it resumed, being completed, at long last, in 1765. Because this edition was mainly marketed to a Polish clientele, passages deemed potentially offensive to the Church (e.g., Bava kamma 38a, 113a-b and Sanhedrin 67a, 107b, 110b) were removed and replaced with blank spaces for their owners to fill in by hand.

Marvin J. Heller, scholar of Talmudic printing history, refers to this edition as “perhaps the most attractive” one published in the eighteenth century. Each Talmud volume opens with an elegant copperplate engraving executed by Aaron bar Abraham Israel (A. Sant Croos), featuring the title within an architectural frame surmounted by the priestly emblem of the Proops family and six large tomes representing the six Orders of the Mishnah, with the coat of arms of the Netherlands in an escutcheon below. Moreover, the first Talmudic title page of each volume is printed in red and black ink, and the Talmudic text itself is richly illustrated in the appropriate places. The beauty of the present set, previously owned by Amsterdam-based author, communal activist, and anti-assimilationist Rabbi Dr. Meijer de Hond Jr. (1882-1943), is enhanced by the original blind-tooled calf in which all thirteen volumes are bound.

Contents

Each of the first twelve volumes is headed by an engraved frontispiece.

Vol. 1: Berakhot: [1-7], 2-109; Zera‘im: 95;

Vol. 2: Shabbat: [1]-188, 1-4; Eiruvin: 142;

Vol. 3: Pesahim: 139; Beitsah: 52; Hagigah: 27; Mo‘ed katan: 53 of 54;

Vol. 4: Rosh ha-shanah: 43; Yoma: [1]-96, [1]-13; Sukkah: 71; Ta‘anit: 37; Shekalim: 13; Megillah: 41;

Vol. 5: Yevamot 147; Ketubbot: [1-2], 2-114, 1-38; Kiddushin: 97;

Vol. 6: Gittin: 118; Nedarim: 106; Nazir: 69; Sotah: 52;

Vol. 7: Bava kamma: 148; Bava metsi‘a: [1]-133, 1-28;

Vol. 8: Bava batra: [1]-189, [1], 1-29; Avodah zarah: [1]-76, 1-21;

Vol. 9: Sanhedrin: 129; Shevu‘ot: 61; Makkot: 29; Horayot: 19; Eduyyot: 14; Avot, Avot de-rabbi natan, Soferim, Semahot, Kallah, and Derekh erets rabbah and zuta: 29; Halakhot ketannot and Maimonides’ Shemonah perakim: 24;

Vol. 10: Zevahim: [1]-127, 2-3; Menahot: 117; Bekhorot: 74;

Vol. 11: Hullin: 177; Arakhin: 38; Temurah: 37 (contra the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, which calls for 36); Keritot: 32; Me‘ilah, Kinnim, Tamid, and Middot: 46;

Vol. 12: Niddah: 89 (contra the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, which calls for 88); Tohorot: [1]-4, 2-199;

Vol. 13: Maharsha and Maharshal: [1], 1-300.

Provenance

Seligman (frontispiece of Vol. 12)

Dr. M. de Hond Jr., Amsterdam (Vol. 1: frontispiece, Berakhot [1a], 50a, Zera‘im 24a, 78a; Vol. 2: frontispiece, Shabbat [1a], 121a, Eiruvin 4a, 86a; Vol. 3: frontispiece, Pesahim [1a], 21a, 85a, 120a, Mo‘ed katan 15a; Vol. 4: pastedown of upper board, front flyleaf, frontispiece, Yoma 45a, Ta‘anit 4a, Megillah 9a; Vol. 5: front flyleaf, frontispiece, Yevamot 70a, Ketubbot 56b-57a, Kiddushin 32a; Vol. 6: frontispiece, Gittin 11a, 42a, 111a, Nedarim 102a; Vol. 7: Bava kamma [1a], 2a, Bava Metsi‘a 27a, 106b; Vol. 8: frontispiece, Bava batra [1a], 44a, Avodah zarah 18a; Vol. 9: pastedown of upper board, front and rear flyleaves, Sanhedrin 101b; Vol. 10: front flyleaf, frontispiece, Zevahim [1a], 105b, Menahot 48b, Bekhorot 2a; Vol. 11: front flyleaf, frontispiece, Arakhin 2b, Me‘ilah 13b; frontispiece, Niddah [1a], 2a, Tohorot 14a, 100a, 163a; Vol. 3: [1a], 2a, 190a, 266a)

Literature

Marvin J. Heller, Printing the Talmud: Complete Editions, Tractates, and Other Works and the Associated Presses from the Mid-17th Century through the 18th Century (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019), 151-164.

Haim Liberman, Ohel rahel, vol. 1 (New York: H. Liberman, 1980), 377-380.

Vinograd, Amsterdam 1655-1662, 1675-1678, 1698-1699, 1710-1711, 1730-1735, 1750, 1827-1833, 1841-1846, 1868-1872, 1875