Previous owner's inscription: Israel Bassan, Mantua (title verso).

R. Moses ben Joseph Kimhi was a renowned grammarian and exegete from Narbonne, Provence. He was the son of R. Joseph Kimhi and brother of R. David Kimhi. R. Moses also wrote Sekhel Tov, a brief supplementary treatise dealing principally with the theoretical classification of nouns, particles, and verbs. A Sefer Tahboshet, apparently dealing with anomalous grammatical forms, is no longer extant. In his exegesis, Moses followed the method of literal interpretation employed by his father and Ibn Ezra. Preferring to comment on generally neglected books of the Bible, he composed commentaries on Proverbs, Ezra, and Nehemiah - which have been printed in rabbinic Bibles but ascribed to Abraham ibn Ezra - and a commentary on Job (published by I. Schwarz in Tikvat Enosh, 1868). Ta'anug Nefesh, an ethical work, has also been attributed to him. Moses Kimhi exercised considerable influence on his brother David, who referred to him as "my brother, my teacher." Through Muenster's translation, his Mahalakh became one of the most popular grammars used by the 16th-century Christian Hebraists and was reprinted many times. Eldest son of the grammarian, exegete, poet and translator, R. Joseph Kimhi (c. 1105–c. 1170) and brother of R. David Kimhi (Radak, c. 1160-c.1235). Joseph moved to Narbonne from Spain to escape the Almohad persecutions, and it was there that Moses lived and raised David, only ten at the time of their father’s death. He predeceased the Radak, who often refers to Moses, “my teacher, my brother, R. Moses, of blessed memory.”