Sefer Kol Bo—early edition, Venice, 1567. Rare copy with yichus! With handwritten filling in of censor deletions ...

Sefer Kol Bo—early edition, Venice, 1567. Rare copy with yichus! With handwritten filling in of censor deletions and a rare printing error

Sefer Kol Bo, one of the foundational works of halacha and minhagim from the Rishonim, by an unknown author (see below). Early edition, printed by Jorge de Cabali, Venice 1567. 4, 158 leaves. Error on the 66th leaf (see details below). Catalogued by the NLI as a Rare Book. Pretty engraved illustration on title page.

In the halachot of Avodah Zara are sections filled in by hand which were omitted by order of the censor—this book was originally printed with many empty lines in halachot because they were erased by the censor before printing. In order to avoid additional censoring, the titles would sometimes have written “Hilchot A.E” (Avodat Elilim) and not the usual Avoda Zara.

The last leaf has an additional long note in a slightly different handwriting with “what was omitted from leaf…”—this copy also has a rare printing error on the 66th leaf; its first amud is 61a and its verso properly has 66b. The handwriting at the end provides the missing page.

Later handsome binding, worn. Title page and additional 3 leaves have been repaired, tear in the margins of one leaf, signs of use, Moth damage is focused on the duration of groups of leaves in margins, spots, overall good condition.

Antique Ashkenazi note on the first leaf: “Belongs to me, the holy Yosef Guggenheim…”. The title page has a Mizrahi signature: “Yehoshua Shunina”—probably Rabbi Yehoshua Shunino, a student of the Maharam ben Haviv, whom he mentions in his work “Get Pashut” (see Arzei HaLevanon p. 847). There is also a small note in his handwriting and it seems that the filling in by hand was done by him.

The Sefer Kol Bo, a foundational halachic work read widely across the Jewish world, focuses on: blessings, prayers, minhagim of Shabbat and chagim, weddings, financial matters, food halachot, and traditions of mourning. It also includes one of the earliest exegeses on the Haggadah. The book is attributed to the Ribash, but the Chida rejects that possibility. Some say that Rabbi Aharon HaCohen of Lunel was responsible, and in Koreh HaDorot he writes that some say that a chachama (woman) wrote the book.