The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies)

1100 Pages·2004·92.69 MB·English

by  Marvin J. Heller

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY HEBREW BOOK
BRILL’S SERIES
IN JEWISH STUDIES
GENERAL EDITOR
DAVID S. KATZ (Tel Aviv)
ADVISORY EDITORS
STUART COHEN (Bar-Ilan)
ANTHONY T. GRAFTON (Princeton)
YOSEF KAPLAN (Jerusalem)
FERGUS MILLAR (Oxford)
VOL. 33/1
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
HEBREW BOOK
An Abridged Thesaurus
VOLUME ONE
BY
MARVIN J. HELLER
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2004
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heller, Marvin J.
The sixteenth century Hebrew book : an abridged thesaurus / by Marvin J. Heller.
p. cm. — (Brill’s series in Jewish studies ; v. 33)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-12976-6
1. Hebrew imprints—Publishing—History—16th century. 2. Printing,
Hebrew—History—16th century. 3. Judaism—Bibliography. 4. Jewish authors—Biography.
I. Title. II. Series.
Z228.H4H45 2003
070.5'09'031—dc21
2003050255
ISSN 0926-2261
ISBN 33/1 9004 13308 9
ISBN 33/2 9004 13309 7
ISBN set 9004 12976 6
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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printed in the netherlands
wrmwa μçb rmwah lk anynj ybr rma rz[la ybr rmaw
ykdrm μçb ˚lml rtsa rmatw rmanç μlw[l hlwag aybm
R. Elazar said in the name of R. Hanina, whomever repeats something in the name of
the one who said it brings redemption to the world, as it says, “and Esther informed the
king of it in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22). Megillah 15a; and Hullin 104b
μynçy ytpç bbwd μyrçyml ydwdl ˚lwh bwfh ˆyyk ˚kjw
...
hklh hrmanç ym lk qdxwhy ˆb ˆw[mç ybr μwçm ˆnjwy ybr rmad
μynçy ytpç bbwd rmanç rbqb twbbwd wytwtpç hzh μlw[b wmçb
“And the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goes down sweetly,
causing the sleepers’ lips to murmur” (Song of Songs 7:10)
R. Johanan said in the name of R. Shimon ben Yehotzedek [var. ben Yohai], whomever
repeats a halakhah in the name of someone in this world, “his lips move in the grave,”
as it says, “causing the sleepers’ lips to murmur.” Yevamot 97a, Sanhedrin 90b, and Bekhorot
31b.

Contents
olume ne
V O
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... ix
Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ xi
Introduction .................................................................................................................. xiii
Texts .............................................................................................................................. 1
olume wo
V T
Texts (cont.) .................................................................................................................. 504
Listings
Listing of Titles—Chronological .............................................................................. 913
Places of Publication ............................................................................................ 923
English .................................................................................................................. 927
Hebrew .................................................................................................................. 937
Listing of Authors .................................................................................................... 945
Sources ...................................................................................................................... 953
Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 987
Index .............................................................................................................................. 999
vii

Acknowledgments
The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus is the work of many hands. A book
such as this is not written in a vacuum but is the result of the coming together of many
people to achieve a common goal. With that in mind I would like to express my grati-
tude to the individuals who assisted me and the institutions that made their resources avail-
able in the work of this book.
I would like to begin by noting the institutions and associated individuals who partici-
pated in the preparation of The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book. They are, The Library of the
Jewish Theological Seminary—Rabbi Jerry Schwarzbard, the Henry R. and Miriam Ripps
Schnitzer Librarian for Special Collections, Mr. David Wachtel, Senior Research Assistant,
Special Collections, Dr. Seth Jerchower, previously Special Research Assistant, and Ms.
Sharon Liberman Mintz, Curator of Jewish Art; Library of Agudas Chassidiei Chabad
Ohel Yosef Yitzhak Lubavitch—R. Shalom Ber Levine, Head Librarian, R. Yitzhak
Wilhelm, and Efraim Keller, Librarians; Klau Library, Hebrew Union College, Jewish
Institute of Religion, New York—Dr. Philip Miller, Librarian, and in Cincinnati—Dr.
David Gilner, Director of Libraries at Hebrew Union College; New York Public Library,
Dr. Michael Terry, Dorot Chief Librarian, Roberta Saltzman, Assistant Chief Librarian,
Anne-Marie Belinfante, Faith Jones, and Eleanor Yadin, librarians; Bobst Library, New
York University—Mr. Marvin Taylor, Fales Librarian and Mr. Mike Kelley, Assistant Fales
Librarian; and The Pierpont Morgan Library—Ms. Dupont, Head of Reader Services.
Particular mention must be made of the contribution of R. Schwarzbard and R. Wilhelm
whose assistance and discussions with me about the contents of this book have made this
a much richer work than would otherwise be the case, and of Mr. David Wachtel, who
permitted me to make use of his as yet unpublished masters’ thesis. Similarly, the assistance
over so many years, of the erudite Dr. Miller is much appreciated. R. Yizhak Holtz, for
technical support, and Mr. Jack Neiman, Dr. Isaac Ron, and Ms. Rosemarie Somfleth for
their support over several years.
I am indebted to Mr. Jack Lunzer, Custodian, Library of the Valmadonna Trust, the
foremost contemporary collector of Hebraica and a scholar of the Hebrew book. He has
been most supportive of this and other projects, providing encouragement, obtaining mate-
rial for me not readily available elsewhere, as well as providing reproductions from the
Valmadonna Trust to be reproduced in this book. Mr. Daniel Kestenbaum of Kestenbaum
& Company, Auctioneer of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art, has, over several years,
graciously supplied me with his catalogues and permitted me to use reproductions from
those catalogues in this book.
My publisher, E. J. Brill (Brill Academic Publishers), has been wonderful to work with,
albeit at a great distance. Among the individuals I have dealt with are Mr. Julian Deahl,
Senior Acquisitions Editor, and Ms. Tanja Cowall, Desk Editor. Most of my contact, how-
ever, was with Ms. Marcella Mulder, Assistant Editor, whose patience, tact, and general
amiability has made my experience with Brill so positive.
Preparation of the reproductions was done by Mr. Shlomo Nussbaum of Font 4. The
quality of the reproductions is due to his incomparable skill. The reader, looking at the
title and sample pages in the book can not possibly imagine the original condition of a
number of these pages, reflecting their heavy usage over the ages and the often difficult
life of many Jewish books. Similarly, the editor, Mr. Joseph I. Lauer, has worked assidu-
ously to remove “thorns and thistles” from the text, and I am grateful to him for his
ix