[Hebrew] Pesikta Zutarta: [Lekah Tov]

Venice: Cornelio Adelkind for Daniel Bomberg, 1546. First edition. Very Good. Folio (32 cm); 93 leaves. Text in Hebrew. Title within architectural border (reproduced in Amram, "Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy," p. 215, also in the Jewish Museum's 1989 exhibition catalogue "Gardens and Ghettos: the Art of Jewish Life in Italy," page 50). Some section headings within ornamental borders. Bound in c19 or c20 dark red crushed morocco ruled in gilt and decorated with arabesques on both boards; spine with raised bands and compartments tooled and titled in gilt; green polished leather doublures with red crushed morocco dentelles bordered in pointillé accented with arabesques; green moiré free endleaves. Edges gilt. Binding not signed. Joints and crown adroitly reinforced with Japanese paper; corners somewhat worn down. Occasional (contemporary?) notes in manuscript in text; brief stain on leaf mem-tet, and lightly along the bottom edge of leaves nun-bet and nun-gimmel. Text otherwise pristine. Title page light, possibly washed. Old library ink stamps (from an institution in Warsaw) on title page. Red morocco ex-libris of mining magnate and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn (1849-1938). References: Adams T-766; BM Italian 674; Steinschneider, 7304, #1; Amram, 215 (illustration) and 222.

First printed edition (editio princeps) of the 11th century commentary on portions of the pentateuch by the Bulgarian poet and Talmudist Tobiah ben Eliezer. Published by the house of the seminal printer of Hebrew books, Daniel Bomberg, under the supervision of his scholar-in-residence extraordinaire Cornelio Adelkind. Venetian law at this time limited Hebrew publishing to Gentile printers. Bomberg, a protestant from Antwerp, entered this lucrative market and, with Adelkind's help, became its prime exponent until his death in 1549.