Mikraot Gedolot – Venice, 1524-1525 – Printed by Daniel Bomberg – Mikraot Gedolot Edition Known for Its Accuracy ...

Mikraot Gedolot – Venice, 1524-1525 – Printed by Daniel Bomberg – Mikraot Gedolot Edition Known for Its Accuracy and Beauty – First Edition Printed with the Masorah Edited by Yaakov son of Chaim ibn Adoniyahu – Accepted Text of the Bible – Set in Four Volumes
Mikraot Gedolot, Five Books of the Torah, Neviim Rishonim, Neviim Acharonim and Ketuvim, with Targum Onkelos and the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Radak, Targum Yonathan and more. Venice: Daniel Bomberg, [1524-1525]. Set in four volumes.
The present set is from the renowned Mikraot Gedolot edition printed by Bomberg. This edition, which was edited by Yaakov son of Chaim ibn Adoniyahu, is considered one of the most important editions of the Bible. It is renowned for its accuracy and beauty, and served as prototype and standard text for all following editions. This edition is also unique for its Masorah (Masorah Gedolah and Masorah Ketanah). Yaakov son of Chaim, who initiated this edition and prepared it for print, established the text of the Masorah based on various manuscripts, with the addition of his glosses to the Masorah and a general foreword which he authored. The present edition is in fact the first edition in which the Masorah is printed alongside the text of the Bible, and it became one of the most important sources for the text of the Masorah for future generations.
Colophon at the end of Divrei HaYamim: "Completed on 24th Tishrei 1525, in the press of Daniel Bomberg, here in Venice…".
This edition includes, apart from the Masorah Gedolah and Masorah Ketanah, Targum and the commentary of Rashi: the commentary of Ibn Ezra to most of the Bible, the commentary of Radak (to Neviim), the commentary of Ralbag (Neviim Rishonim, Mishlei and Iyov) and the commentary of R. Saadiah Gaon (to Daniel). The commentaries to Mishlei, Iyov and Ezra-Nechamia printed under the name of Ibn Ezra were actually authored by R. Moshe Kimchi.
At the end of the fourth volume, the Final Masorah was printed, along with lists of variants between Ben-Asher and Ben-Naftali and between the Western and the Eastern traditions, Shaar HaNeginot, and more.
Yaakov son of Chaim ibn Adoniyahu was born in Tunis, and fled to Italy due to persecutions. He settled in Venice, where he became a proofreader in Bomberg's press, and took part in several of his prominent printing enterprises, including the present Mikraot Gedolot, the Jerusalem Talmud, and more. At some point, Yaakov ben Chaim converted to Christianity. In his book Masoret HaMasoret (second preface), R. Eliyahu Bachur praises the beauty and superiority of the Mikraot Gedolot edited by Yaakov ben Chaim, while at the same time condemning his conversion and criticizing the errors which crept into his work.
A lengthy foreword by Yaakov ben Chaim appears at the beginning of the first volume, where he recounts his life story, describing his peaceful years studying in Tunis, and the tribulations he underwent until he reached Venice, where he was approached by Bomberg who employed him to proofread the books he was printing.
Signature (in Rashi script) on the title page of vol. I: "Yehoshua, here in Shidlov and its surroundings" (this may be R. Yehoshua Rabbi of Shidlov [son of R. Yehuda Leib of Shidlov Rabbi of Krakow], who according to certain sources converted to Christianity and adopted the name Jan Jacob Szydlowski).
Calligraphic signature on the title page of vol. IV: "Shlomo Laniado".
Four volumes: Torah: [234] leaves. Neviim Rishonim: [209] leaves. Without final blank leaf. Neviim Acharonim: [211] leaves. Without final blank leaf. Ketuvim: [297] leaves. Without blank leaf following Divrei HaYamim (leaf [232]). 36.5-39 cm (fourth volume smaller than other volumes). Condition varies, fair to good-fair. Stains, including large dampstains (large, significant dampstains to vol. IV, with traces of past dampness and mold in several places). Tears, including open tears affecting text, primarily to first and final leaves of volumes, repaired in part with paper (large strips of paper to margins of several leaves). Title pages of vols. I, III and IV damaged (tears and large open tears, affecting text and borders), repaired with paper and mounted on paper for reinforcement. Inner margins of title page of vol. II reinforced with paper. Final leaf of vol. IV mounted on paper for reinforcement. Worming, affecting text in several places, repaired in part. Inscriptions and stamps. Censorship deletions (many deletions in Book of Daniel). New bindings.
References: M. Goshen-Gottstein's introduction to Biblia Rabbinica, a reprint of the 1525 Venice edition edited by Jacob ben Hayim ibn Adoniya, Jerusalem, 1972, I, pp. 7-8; J. Penkower, Jacob ben Hayyim and the rise of the Biblia Rabbinica, Jerusalem 1982.
Habermann, The Printer Daniel Bomberg, no. 93.