Chamisha Chumshei Torah – Signed by the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Chai Mussafia, with Hand-written Annotations. Sabbioneta ...

Chamisha Chumshei Torah – Signed by the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Chai Mussafia, with Hand-written Annotations. Sabbioneta, 1554. Pocket Edition.

All five books of the Chumash in one volume, printed in Sabbioneta in Northern Italy in the printing house of Tobias Pua.

With open and closed parashiot according to the Rambam, with precise omissions and additions. Printed without vowels, to resemble a Torah scroll. At the end, a colophon and a table for reading the portions on holidays.

On page 2, an ownership inscription:

'L"HU (LHashem haretz umeloah), the young A.ChY.M (Avraham Chai Mussafia) – the signature of the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Chai Musafia (Otzar Rabbanim 1056): A sage from Turkey and Jerusalem, son of Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak, the Av Beit Din of Istanbul. He authored 'Tehila LeDavid' on Psalms (Livorno, 1547), and his insights were also printed in his father's book 'Chayim VeChesed' (Livorno, 1544).

A ownership inscription at the end of Parashat Vezot Habracha: a modest acquisition Shmuel Plazas Yatziv'.

In the margins of the book, there are handwritten annotations.

Sabbioneta, 1554. First edition. Printed by Tobias Solomon, "By the hand of Cornelio Adelkind."

According to Avraham Yaari, Printers of the Sons of Foa, Jerusalem 1958, pp. 361 and 348.

223, [2] leaves (lacking the last leaf, the table of readings for holidays). 9.5 cm, pocket edition. Good condition. Stains. Tear with loss at the top of the title page, affecting the book title and text on the other side, repaired with paper fill. Beautiful old leather binding.

A miniature pocket edition of the Chamisha Chumshei Torah belonging to one of the great sages of Turkey and Jerusalem.