Iggeres Shmuel – Commentary on Megillas Rus
First Edition.
Kuru Chesme, 1597
Printing press of Donna Reyna
Printing press of Donna Reyna
Commentary on Megillas Rus by the kabbalist Rabbi Shmuel de Uçeda, disciple of the Arizal. Includes the text of the megillah and Rashi’s commentary.
In 1597, Donna Reyna, wife of the famous Don Yosef Nasi, founded a press in her palace in Belvedere. That very same year, the press relocated to the village of Kuru Chesme, near Constantinople, where she printed 8 Hebrew books. The present sefer, Iggeres Shmuel, was the first book printed in Kuru Chesme.
The kabbalist Rabbi Shmuel de Uçeda (circa 1545-1604), author of Medrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avos and Rosh Yeshivah in Tzfas, was among the famous disciples of the Arizal and Rabbi Chaim Vital. In 1597, he journeyed to Constantinople to raise money for his yeshivah, taking along with him the manuscript of this present work to print in the village of Kuru Chesme. Shivchei Ha’Ar”i (Ch.19) recounts that Rabbi Shmue de Uceda once entered into the Arizal’s room, and the Arizal rose in his honor! Rabbi Chaim Vital also quotes him as a source of the Arizal’s teachings (Shaar Ruach Hakodesh 12a).
Kuru Chesme, 1597. First edition. [84] leaves. Page size: 20 cm. Minor professional restorations to margins. Several pages are water stained; otherwise good condition. Bound in new red leather binding .
Provenance: David Rapp , Homburg (signed upper corner of TP)
” ive purchesed from the above Meir son of R’ Joseph….”
Bibliography: Yaari, Hadfus Ha’Ivri B’Kushta, Preface p. 32/Yaari, Nashem Bemeleches Hakodesh, p. 260.
………………………………….
Any inquiries about this lot?
