First edition. 50 ff., quarto, 184:144 mm., light age and damp staining, wide margins. A good copy bound in modern quarter vellum and marbled paper over boards.

Commentary to the Five Scrolls by R. Levi b. Gershon (Ralbag, 1288–1344 also called Gersonides), mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and biblical commentator, born probably at Bagnols-sur-CIze, France. He lived primarily in Orange and briefly at Avignon. Ralbag had very broad intellectual interests and contributed to many areas of human learning.

The Hebrew printing press in Riva, which was active between 1558 and 1562 and produced about 35 titles. The press owed its success to the cooperation of three men: Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, bishop of Trent, who had jurisdiction over the town and whose coat-of-arms appears on many of the Riva publications; R. Joseph b. Nathan Ottolenghi, rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Cremona; and Jacob Marcaria, dayyan and physician, also of Cremona, who was the printer and contributed learned prefaces to his productions.

Hebrew Description

... [מאת] הפלוסוף... רבי לוי בן גרשון... נדפס תחת ממשלת האדון החשמן קרישטופיל מאדרוץ...

מעבר לשער: כל אלה חברו אל עמק השירים, קהלת, רות, אסתר. ואל החמישי והוא איכה לא בא לידינו... ואולי לא חבר... כה דברי הרופא... יעקב מרקריאה.

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000174667; EJ