Rare and Important Hebrew Books and Manuscripts
By Royal Auction House
Contact auction house
May 15, 2023
Toms River, NJ, United States
The auction has ended
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LOT 6:
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Sold for: $4,200
Start price:
$
2,000
Estimated price :
$3,000 - $4,000
Buyer's Premium: 25%
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Sefer Michlal Yofi, Constantinople 1549. First Edition. Printed at the press of Moshe ben Elazar HaParnes Rofeh.
Sefer Michlal Yofi was authored by Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Melech, and is akin to an encyclopedia for the study and interpretation of the Tanach. He compiled it into commentaries on the Pesukim according to the order of the Tanach, based on thirty-nine compositions by the great grammarians and commentators which he lists at the end of the book.
His main sources are the books of R. Yehuda Haiuj, R. Yonah Ibn Janach, R. Avraham Ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Kimchi and R. David Kimchi (The Radak). He focuses greatly on the Radak's works, such as Sefer HaMichlol and Sefer Hashrashim, and praises him highly. He writes that through his work, the Jews of Morocco, especially those in his hometown of Fez, "as well as the Jews in the cities of Turkey who excel in studying the Tanach" will be able to benefit from the teachings of the Radak.
Another interesting focus of this work is that it deals with the clarification of the proper Nusach of Tanach and the clarification of the Ta'amim and Nikkud. The author himself considered this unique, because "for hundreds of years", as he put it, nobody had ever dealt with this subject.
Michlal Yofi had a considerable influence on the study of Tanach and was printed many times. The well-known grammarian R. Yedidia Shlomo Norzi, author of "Minchas Shai", expresses in his preface an apology for having composed his work, "as Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Melech already composed a work called Michlal Yofi compiled of thirty-nine authors..."
Beginning in the year 1680, Michlal Yofi was printed in Amsterdam together with the commentary of R. Yaakov Abandana, in which he added interpretations of those Pesukim that R. Shlomo Ibn Melech had not focused on.
It is extremely rare to find this work intact and in such a magnificent condition.
Owners' signatures from the year 1602 are visible on the title page. A few glosses of ancient script are visible on several leaves. Light stains. Bound in an ornate full-leather binding.
192 pp.
