Otiyot D'Rabbi Akiva – Kraków, Ca. 1630 – Complete Copy, Rare Edition

Otiyot D'Rabbi Akiva – Kraków, Ca. 1630 – Complete Copy, Rare Edition

Otiyot D'Rabbi Akiva – midrashim. [Kraków: printer not indicated, ca. 1630].
Exceptionally rare edition; complete copy.
Title printed at the foot of the title page.
On the verso of the title page, table of contents and brief foreword stating that this is the third edition of the book, following the Venice 1546 edition and Kraków 1579 edition – an expanded edition with additional sections, based on which the present edition was printed (this is the fourth edition of the book, first printed in Constantinople, ca. 1515).
Otiyot D'Rabbi Akiva (also known as Alpha Beta D'Rabbi Akiva) is a Midrash on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, attributed to the Tanna R. Akiva. The book contains midrashim on each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Today, there are two main versions of the midrash, with different contents.

23, [1] leaves. 18.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor marginal tears to several leaves, repaired with paper (minor marginal open tear to title page, slightly affecting ornament on verso). Minor open tears to several leaves, slightly affecting text. Some worming, slightly affecting text. Printing defect to one leaf near the end of the book. Stamp of the Beit Midrash of the "Knesset Yisrael" community. Old binding, damaged.

The copy listed in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, as well as the copy listed in the NLI catalogue, comprise 20 leaves only, and are lacking the end. The present copy comprises 24 leaves. Only one additional complete copy is known, kept in the collection of the Royal Library in Copenhagen (the copy in the Bodleian Library is also lacking the four final leaves, see: Steinschneider, CB, no. 3398, column 519).
Provenance:
1. The Library of the London Beth Din.
2. Kestenbaum Auction House, New York, November 2000, no. 97.