(MISHNAH)

Pirkei Avoth [Ethics of the Fathers]. With commentary Lechem Yehudah by Judah ben Samuel Lerma, with text.
Second edition of commentary. Title surrounded by intricate floral motif. The Adolph Lewisohn copy (with his morocco book-label). Introduction recounts the burning of the Talmud in Italy.
ff. 163 (lacking last unpaginated leaf containing the printer's mark, (see Habermann, HaMadpiss Cornelio Adel-Kind 121). Inner margin of title tape repaired, first three and last three leaves old tape repairs, marginal worming, some stains. Contemporary vellum, worn. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Sabbionetta 21; S.J. Weiss, Pirkei Avot, 14.
Sabbionetta: Cornelio Adel-Kind for Tobias Foa 1554
Of Spanish origin, Judah Lerma's commentary, philosophical in nature, draws upon the classic works of the Spanish Jewish philosophers: Maimonides, Albo, Arama and Abrabanel. Lerma originally printed this commentary in Venice in 1553. However by Papal decree, one Sabbath in the month of Mar-Cheshvan that same year, all copies of the Talmud, including Eyn Ya'akov, Alfas, and Mishnah, were publicly burned in Venice - and with them, all 1500 copies of Lerma's Avoth commentary. Undaunted, Lerma set out to reconstruct his work from memory. In time, he was able to obtain a single copy of his Lechem Yehudah plucked from the pyre by a Gentile. Upon comparison, Lerma regarded this, his second version, superior to the first.