[2], 50, 50-82 ff., folio, 382:230 mm., wide margins, blue-tint paper, light age and damp staining. A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed, new spine.

Responsa on all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh by R. Ezekiel b. Abraham Katzenellenbogen (c. 1667-1749), a member of one of the leading families of East European Jewry and noted rabbinical scholar. He was rabbi in several prominent European communities before being appointed to the prestigious position of rabbi of the three communities Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck in 1714. He served for 35 years until his demise in 1749.

The Hebrew printing press in Russia was established in the mid 18th century. States, large and small, in these regions wanted to prevent the importation of Hebrew books and the resulting drain on their capital resources. In addition, the increasing severity of the church-state censorship - severer than it ever was in other parts of Europe, in a region that had not known such censorship before - made it desirable to them to have Hebrew presses under their immediate supervision. For both these reasons the setting up of local Hebrew presses was encouraged. A more positive cause of the rise of these presses was the efflorescence of Talmud study in the growing number of yeshivot in Lithuania and Poland as well as of Hasidism and its literature, creating an ever larger demand for Hebrew books.

Unfortunately, the poverty in these areas meant a lowering of the standards of printing and book production. Many of these popular volumes have perished over time as a result of heavy use by Russian-Polish rabbinical scholars. Furthermore, the constant harassment and Anti-Semitic pogroms by the Russian nobility, forced the Jews to continue moving from place to place, from village to village, any religious items left behind were destroyed by the plundering masses - Hebrew books were easy victims of these murderers.

Hebrew Description

.. (ד טורים) שחיבר... ר' יחזקאל (מבית קצינאלפוגין) אב"ד ור"מ דשלשה קהלות... אלטונא המבורג וואנזיבעק (באמ"ו... ר' אברהם זלה"ה נין... ר' יעקב ונכד... ר' אברהם אשכנז ז"ל אב"ד דק"ק לבוב מבית קצינאלנפוגן... המגיה... נתן בלא"א כמוהר"ר משה איוערבך [!] זצ"ל מק"ק ווישניצא סמוך לק"ק קראקא)... הדפסנו אותו מחדש ... במצות... ר' חנוך העניך במוה"ר יוסף ז"ל

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000161852; BE 365; Vinograd 216; Weiner 5302; EJ;