(Rabbeinu Bechaye). Biur al HaTorah [commentary to the Pentateuch]. Edited by Solomon Tzarphathi ben Peretz.

BACHIA BEN ASHER

Azriel ben Joseph Aschkenazi Gunzenhauser

Naples

1492

Divisional title to each Book. Divisional titles of Shemoth and Vayikra surrounded by richly historiated borders complete with peacock, hunters, hounds and stags. Marginalia.

Vinograd, Naples 21; Offenberg 8; Goff Heb-6; Thesaurus A-74.

Second incunable edition. Of the first edition, printed somewhere in the Iberian Peninsula just a few months earlier, only fragments are extant (see Offenberg no. 7. The 13th-century exegete Rabbeinu Bachia ben Asher of Saragossa was a disciple of R. Solomon ben Adret and is considered to be one of the most distinguished of the Biblical exegetes of Spain. In his biblical exegesis, R. Bachia’s commentary is infused with the spirit of Kabbalah, for he took as his model his teacher’s teacher - Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Nachmanides), who was the first major commentator to make extensive use of Kabbalah as a means of interpreting the Torah. The rich border of this Naples edition of Bachia’s Commentary has become the focus of much bibliographic attention. See A. Marx, Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. XI (1920-1) p.113; idem, Studies in Jewish History and Booklore (1944) 289-91; J. Bloch, Hebrew Printing in Naples in: Hebrew Printing and Bibliography (1976) p. 131; and C. Roth, The Border of the Naples Bible of 1491-2 in: C. Roth, Studies in Books and Booklore (1972) pp. 71-9.