KALAI, Samuel Ben Moses

Mishpetei Shemuel [responsa]

      1599. FIRST EDITION. KALAI, Samuel Ben Moses. Mishpetei Shemu'el [Responsa]. Venice: Daniel Zanetti, 1599. Folio, modern full brown buckram gilt. $3500. First edition of Kalai's responsa, of importance to the history of the Jews in Greece, finely printed by Daniel Zanetti in Venice, with characteristic decorative woodcut title page. The 16th-century Turkish rabbi Samuel Ben Moses Kalai "settled in Salonika [Greece] where he served as rabbi of the Keianah community. He was regarded as the Talmudic authority for the whole country and problems were addressed to him from various towns" (Encyclopaedia Judaica). "A special importance attaches to responsa as a primary source for a knowledge of the history of the Jews in the various countries. Responsa literature has one advantage over such other accepted historical sources as chronographies, official documents, biographies, etc., since the evidence it affords is undesigned, without any specific historical purpose or intention" (Encyclopaedia Judaica). The Zanetti family were publishers for a number of generations in Venice and issued several important Hebrew works. This volume features a highly decorative title page with a woodcut floral border, a hallmark of the Zanetti printers. Vinograd, Venice 879. Interior and woodcut title page bright. Faint marginal dampstaining, trace worming to first few leaves, not affecting text. A lovely copy in near-fine condition.