Iggeret Shemuel

Zolkiew: Mordekai Rubenstein, 1804. Hardcover. fair. 8vo. 61 leaves. Three quarter leather over marbled boards. Ornate floral design tailpiece on verso and recto of last page. Iggeret Shemuel is a commentary on the Book of Ruth, which includes teachings of early Spanish scholars and some of his contemporaries. In 1597, Iggeret Shemuel was the first book published by Dona Reyna, daughter of the famous Dona Gracia and wife of Don Joseph Nasi, the Duke of Naxos. Dona Gracia and her family were conversos, who returned to Judaism after fleeing from Portugal to Flanders and then to Italy and eventually the Ottoman Empire. After Don Joseph Nasi's death, Dona Reyna used her inheritance to establish a Hebrew press. Text in Hebrew, in "Rashi script." Front board detached, but present. Heavy age wear to covers. Missing front free endpaper. Book stamp of previous owner on back pastedown endpaper. Title page in ornate floral frame. Book stamp of previous owner middle of title page, affecting text. Very slight worming to top part of page 37 to last page. Heavy chipping and tearing to upper corner of last page, with loss of some text. Bottom third of free rear endpaper missing. Water staining to lower third of pages page 42 to last page. Binding in poor, interior in fair to good condition. Samuel of Uceda was a student of the kabbalist Isaac Luria, who, through the teaching of his more famous student Hayyim Vital, would revolutionize Jewish thought.