Manuscript, Petach Devari - on the grammar of the Holy Tongue. [Italy], 1471.
Brown ink on paper, semi-cursive Italian Hebrew script.
Petach Devarai is an early grammatical composition (named after its opening words). The author was a Spanish scholar, but his identity remains unknown. Some attribute the work to R. Moshe Kimchi, some to R. Ibn Chisda and to others. The composition was first printed in 1492, in Naples or elsewhere in Italy.
On the last leaf is the scribe's colophon from 1471, at the age of 76; "I have written and completed it in the month of Tamuz 1471, in the 76th year of my life. G-d, in His mercy, should grant my children for posterity the merit to study it and the rest of the holy secrets". On the verso of that leaf, the scribe added a poem with an acrostic of the name "Moshe Marcheshvan". Further in the poem, the scribe's name Moshe Ezra clearly appears above a line of entreaty for livelihood.
Bound at the beginning of the manuscript is a vellum leaf (folded into two) handwritten in Latin (document related to real-estate). This leaf served the purpose of a title page of the manuscript and is titled: "Leshon Limudim (Shekel HaKodesh)". On it appears another inscription: "The heirs of Eliezer Richetti" (probably, a resident of Mantua in the second half of the 16th century). On the blank leaf at the end of the manuscript are quill trials and a note on the zodiac. On this leaf and on the blank leaves at the beginning of the manuscript are Christian-Italian censor signatures with various dates: Luigi ... 1599, Girolamo Darazzano 1640, Giovanni Dominico Vistorini 1610.
[1] vellum leaf (folded); [40] leaves. 19 cm. High-quality thick paper. Good condition. Stains. New binding.
Provenance: Halberstam Collection 124; London - Montefiore 409; Sotheby's New York, November 2004; Toaff family collection.