(BIBLE,
Hebrew. Judges). Sepher Shoftim.

Hebrew. Judges). Sepher Shoftim.
With Targum Jonathan and commentaries by David Kimchi (Rada”k) and Levi ben Gershom (Ralba”g, Gersonides).
FIRST EDITION OF TARGUM JONATHAN AND GERSONIDES. Texts of Bible and Targum Jonathan with vocalization (nikud) and cantillation (te’amim or “trope”). ff. 54 (of 86). Provided in facsimile: ff. 1,2,4,6,7-13,15-6,18,26,33,38,40-1,46-8,50-1,57-9,64,66,72,74-5; wormed with loss, stained in places, expert paper repairs throughout, f. 22 with clean tear, f. 31 with loss of text along inner margin. Modern blind-tooled crushed morocco. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Leiria 6; Steinschneider, p. 4, no. 18; Goff Heb-23; Thes. B-27; Offenberg 28.

Dom Samuel d’Ortas and Sons, Leiria: 1494.


One of the last Hebrew books printed before the Portuguese Exile of 1497.
     With the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, neighboring Portugal took its place as the center of Hebrew printing along the Iberian peninsula. Thus the fortified town of Leiria, less than a hundred miles north-east of Lisbon, now became a source of Hebrew books. Between the years 1492-96, Samuel de Ortas, a native of Orthez, France, together with his three sons, produced a total of seven Hebrew titles. But de Ortas’ most celebrated feat of printing would be in Gothic letters: The Latin version of Abraham Zacuto’s astronomical table, Almanach Perpetuum, which is said to have guided Christopher Columbus on his monumental voyage of discovery to the New World.
     See Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library - Otzroth Ya’akov, Incunables no. 65.