Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection

PENTATEUCH WITH TARGUM, FIVE SCROLLS, AND HAFTAROT, SABBIONETA: TOBIAS FOA, 1557

Auction Closed

November 20, 08:47 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

PENTATEUCH WITH TARGUM, FIVE SCROLLS, AND HAFTAROT, SABBIONETA: TOBIAS FOA, 1557

412 folios (4 1/8 x 2 5/8 in.; 107 x 67 mm) (foliation: [5], 1-352, 1-57) on paper (facing pages, i.e., openings, are given the same folio number); Hebrew and Aramaic printed on facing pages of Pentateuch section (excepting the blessings of Jacob on ff. 80-81 and of Moses on f. 329, which are printed with text and Targum on the same page); marginal numeration of every fifth verse in Pentateuch and Five Scrolls sections. Printer’s device on verso of title page; opening word of Pentateuch (both in Hebrew and Aramaic) and of Five Scrolls within decorative frames. Slight scattered staining; lower-outer corners of f. 332 of Pentateuch/Five Scrolls section and of f. 42 of Haftarot section lacking; ff. 340-351 of Pentateuch/Five Scrolls section supplied and numbered in pencil (1-12); light worming at rear; censors’ signatures (Camillo Jagel 1613 [?]; Luigi [da Bologna]) on verso of final folio. Modern blind-tooled calf; spine in four compartments with raised bands; title lettered in gilt in second compartment; edges gauffered; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns. Housed in a modern slipcase, with slight dampstaining at base.

This beautiful, pocket-size edition of the Pentateuch, Five Scrolls, and haftarot improves upon its predecessor of circa 1553-1554 (see lot 24) by including the vowels and accents of the biblical text, as well as Targum Onkelos, the ancient Aramaic translation, on facing pages of the Pentateuch section. (A parallel edition, printed the same year at the same press, did not include the Targum.) The text is preceded by a poem suggesting that its miniature format would allow a traveler to fulfill the halakhic obligation to study the Torah portion with its Targum every week. Also included here (as in the earlier edition) is an index of the required Pentateuchal readings for special Sabbaths, festivals, and fast days. The version of Targum Onkelos published by Abraham Berliner in 1884 was based upon that printed here.

Provenance

(?) ben Joseph (title page)

Literature

Abraham Berliner (ed.), Targum onkelos al ha-torah (Berlin: Zevi Hirsch Itzkowski, 1884).

Vinograd, Sabbioneta 41

Avraham Yaari, “Ha-madpisim benei foa,” in Mehkerei sefer: perakim be-toledot ha-sefer ha-ivri (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1958), 323-419, at pp. 363 (no. 21).