Yad Ramah (On Tractate Bava Batra) (in 2 vols.)

Thessaloniki: Mordekhai Nahman ve-David Yisraelig'ah, 1791. First edition. Hardcover. g- to vg-. Two volumes, large quarto. Vol.1: [2], 157. Vol.2: [3], 158- 274, [1] 35. Double-sided leaves. Rebound in modern burgundy mottled faux-leather boards, with gilt lettering on the front covers, gilt lettering and ruling on the spines. Edges of the book block in red. Title pages bordered with small woodcut motifs.

The first printed edition of this commentary on the Talmudic tractate Bava Batra by famed mediaeval Spanish Rabbi Meir Abulafia (aka 'The Ramah', c. 1170 – 1244). The work is one of only three surviving parts (Tractates Bava Batra, Sanhedrin and Kidushin, plus the fourth chapter of Tractate Gittin) from his larger series of his Talmudic commentaries, known as Yad Ramah (meaning "Hand of the Ramah", or "The Upraised Hand"). The final section of the second volume contains Shiyur Shitah Mekubetset (with its own title page), a subsequent commentary on the work by Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi (c. 1520 – c. 1592) and an approbation at the start of the first volume by editor Yosef Elia Halevi. The first volume includes a few illustrated figures and diagrams on leaf 123.

Text throughout in Hebrew, printed in Rashi script in a two column format.

Bindings with minor rubbing, bumping and damp staining to the corners. Minor scratches and smudges to the covers. Title page in volume one torn along the left margin. Title page of volume torn along the left margin, with no loss of text. Title page of volume 2 with tears, worming and staining, with some loss of text. Volumes quite clean overall, with only minor sporadic staining in the margins. Worming throughout both volumes, with some loss of text, mostly in the second volume. A few pages throughout the volumes have been repaired with tape. Bindings in very good-, interiors in good- to good condition overall. Scarce. Hebrew title: יד רמה
Author(s): רבי מאיר הלוי אבואלעפייא )הרמ"ה(, יוסף אליה הלוי, בצלאל בן אברהם אשכנזי
Publication: שאלוניקי, בדפוס השותפים מרדכי נחמן ודוד ישראליג'ה

Bibliographic references: Vinograd- Salonica 407.