Masekhet Rosh ha-Shana: Tractatus Talmudicus de Festo Novi Anni ac Calendarum consecratione, itamque Maimonides De Synedriis et Poenis
Amsterdam: Hendrick Boom and the Widow of Dirk Boom, 1695. First edition. Hardcover. Two parts, quarto. [8], 154, [2, errata]; 171, [2, variantes lectiones] [1, corrigenda] [2, blank]pp. Title in red and black, with woodcut vignette; half-title for the second part; woodcut lettrines. A dedication to the Burgemeisters of Amsterdam appears following the title. In the second part the Hebrew text is printed on the left side of the rectos and the right side of the versos, so as to appear in the center with the Latin translation against the margins when the book is fully opened. Contemporary vellum, letterpress title in black at spine. Hebrew (square, unvocalized) and Latin text in facing columns; full-page Latin commentary in first part. Covers lightly soiled. Clean corner tear at q2 (just extending into catchword). A very good copy, with clean, crisp text.
Collation: [dagger]4, A-T4, V2; a-y4 (= 170 leaves; blank y4).
Hebrew texts of the Babylonian Talmud mishnah treatise Rosh Hashanah (The New Year); accompanied by Maimonides’ treatise Hilkhot Sanhedrin (The Rules of the Sanhedrin) from his Mishneh Torah, with Latin translation and notes by Hendrik Houting (fl. 1695), who often includes copious quotations from the gemara; Maimonides; Obadiah Bertinoro; the Tzemah David of David Ganz, and other Jewish sources. Little is known of the editor's life apart from his association with the better-known Dutch Hebraist, Willem Surenhuys (1666-1729), now chiefly remembered for his monumental Latin translation of the Mishnah (1698-1703). It is worth noting in this context that Surenhuys "was able to make use of earlier published versions for twenty-five of the sixty-one tractates" (van Rooden) "Hendrik Boom (1644-1709) was an important Amsterdam bookseller and publisher. He worked together with the widow of his brother Dirk since 1680. It is uncertain whether he had a printing-house of his own" (Fuks).
References: Dienstag, “Christian Translators of the Mishneh Torah”, 16. Fuks/Fuks-Mansfeld 609. Heller (17th Century), pp.1286-1287. P. T. van Rooden, Theology, Biblical Scholarhsip and Rabbinical Studies in the Sevententh Century (Leiden: Brill, 1989), p. 110. Steinschneider 5252.
Provenance: Presentation bookplate of Edward Hayes Plumptre, Dean of Wells Theological College (1881-1891). Very good. Item #48869
מסכת ראש השנה
משנה תורה
הלכות סנהדרין.
Price: $1,250.00