Tehillim with the Chazeh Tzion Commentary, by Kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi – Livorno, 1742-1743 – Author ...

Tehillim with the Chazeh Tzion Commentary, by Kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi – Livorno, 1742-1743 – Author Killed Sanctifying G-d's Name in the Course of the Printing
Chazeh Tzion, Tehillim with multifaceted (Pardes) commentary, by Kabbalist R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi, author of Mishnat Chassidim. Livorno, [1742-1743]. First edition.
In the course of the printing of this book, the author was murdered in sanctification of G-d's Name. His name was printed on the title page with the blessing for the living, however, at the end of the book, the author's son tells of his murder. A lamentation for him, by R. Shlomo Yosef son of R. Natan Carpi, was also added to the book‏.
R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi (1688-1743) was a leading Italian kabbalist, author of Mishnat Chassidim and other compositions. He traversed many countries, reached Eretz Israel and established a yeshiva in Jerusalem (one of the students of this yeshiva was the Or HaChaim). In 1742, he visited Italian communities to collect funds for his yeshiva. At that time, he began printing this book in Livorno. On Rosh Chodesh Adar 1743, on his way from Modena to Bologna, foreign soldiers arrested him and tried to force him to eat pork. Upon his adamant refusal, they strangled him to death with his tefillin straps and looted all the charity funds which he had collected.
At the beginning of the book is a long autobiography of the author. In his epilogue to the book, the author's son, R. Avraham Shmuel Ricchi, provides further details about the author and describes his murder and burial. At the end of his epilogue, R. Avraham Shmuel copies an unnerving notation found in R. Immanuel's personal siddur, written in his own handwriting – a documentation of a dream he had in which he was informed that he is the soul of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, one of the ten martyrs, and that he would die in sanctification of G-d's Name.
Interestingly, the author concludes this composition, in the last lines of his commentary, with the topic of the ten martyrs, with specific mention of R. Yehuda ben Bava.
In the center of the title page: the crest of the author's family, featuring a lion holding a stalk of wheat in its mouth and a Hebrew inscription.
138, [2] leaves. 32 cm. Most leaves are in good condition. Stains. Minor wear and signs of usage to first and last leaves. Marginal tears to title page and several other leaves, almost without loss. New binding.