Chazeh Tzion, Tehillim with multifaceted (Pardes) commentary, by Kabbalist R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi, author of Mishnat Chassidim. Livorno, [1742-1743]. First edition.
In the course of the printing of this book, the author was murdered in sanctification of G-d's Name. On the title page, his name appears as among the living, however, at the end of the book, the author's son tells of his murder. A lamentation for him, by R. Shlomo Yosef son of R. Natan Carpi, was also added to the book‏.
R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi (1688-1743) was a leading Italian kabbalist, author of Mishnat Chassidim and other compositions. He traversed many countries, reached Eretz Israel and established a yeshiva in Jerusalem (one of the students of this yeshiva was the Or HaChaim). In 1742, he visited Italian communities to collect funds for his yeshiva. At that time, he began printing this book in Livorno. On Rosh Chodesh Adar 1743, on his way from Modena to Bologna, foreign soldiers arrested him and tried to force him to eat pork. Upon his adamant refusal, they strangled him to death with his tefillin straps and looted all the charity funds which he had collected. His cousin, R. Immanuel son of R. Yitzchak Ben Tzion Ricchi, writes in his lamentation: "His blood was spilled because he did not want to defile his pure soul". R. Yaakov Londin writes about the murder of R. Immanuel Ricchi in his introduction to the book Shiva Einayim (Livorno, 1745): "He was murdered in sanctification of G-d's Name on the same day that I returned on that route… He was captured by three soldiers, who spilled his blood and looted him of a great sum of money, for the sake of G-d's holy Name not to defile himself with their food, to put pork into his mouth…".
At the beginning of the book is a long autobiography of the author, including descriptions concerning his compositions, wanderings and experiences. In his epilogue to the book, the author's son, R. Avraham Shmuel Ricchi, provides further details about the author and describes his murder: "Upon his departure from Modena to travel through Bologna… he met wicked evildoers… with swords girding their loins… and they looted him and attacked him…". He then describes how the Jews of Modena gave R. Immanuel a Jewish burial, after being informed of his murder: "I will not be ungrateful… to the residents of Modena… for they respected him in his death, and immediately upon hearing the bad tidings, the city notables took to travel… They removed him from his grave on the river bank and brought him to the Jewish graveyard in Cento…". At the end of his epilogue, R. Avraham Shmuel copies an unnerving notation found in R. Immanuel's personal siddur, written in his own handwriting - a documentation of a dream he had in which he was informed that he is the soul of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, one of the ten martyrs, and that he would die in sanctification of G-d's Name: "I hereby write the dream letter by letter, word for word, as it appears in his handwriting in his siddur… A memoir, that in Jerusalem in the year 1740, I dreamt… one night, I and another person were being killed sanctifying G-d's Name, and afterward, that same year on Friday night… I was told in a dream that the soul of my son… is the soul of a Tanna… and I inquired about myself… They told me, 'And you are R. Yehuda ben Bava'…".
Interestingly, the author concludes this composition in the last lines of his commentary with the topic of the ten martyrs, with specific mention of R. Yehuda ben Bava.
In the center of the title page: the crest of the author's family, featuring a lion holding a stalk of wheat in its mouth and a Hebrew inscription.
138, [2] leaves. 32 cm. Most leaves are in good condition. Stains. Minor wear and signs of usage to first and last leaves. Marginal tears to title page and several other leaves, almost without loss. New binding.

Two Talmud volumes, in which the passages omitted in printing due to censorship restrictions were completed by hand:
• Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Kama. [Berlin, 1727].
Small format. Each leaf corresponds with one page of the regular Talmud editions. This tractate was printed on its own, and is not part of a complete Talmud edition.
Chiddushei Halachot by the Maharsha was printed at the end of the volume. Torah Or, Ein Mishpat and Masoret HaShas were integrated in the text of the Talmud, in smaller typeface.
Passages were omitted in this edition due to censorship restrictions, including over half a page on folio 38a, and lengthy passages on other leaves. In this copy, most of the censored passages were replaced in handwriting (in square script and semi-cursive script).
[153] leaves. Lacking title page. 18 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear. Several leaves with tears, damage, worming and margins trimmed on text border, with occasional damage to text. Several detached leaves. Early leather binding, damaged.
The Bibliography of the Hebrew Book lists an incomplete copy, lacking at the end. The NLI copy is lacking in the middle and at the end.
• Babylonian Talmud, Tractates Sanhedrin, Shevuot, Makkot, Eduyot, Minor Tractates and Avot. Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder, [1737].
On folio 43a, a lengthy passage about Yeshu (Jesus) was omitted due to censorship. In this copy, the passage was replaced in handwriting. Omitted passages on other leaves were also replaced in handwriting.
4-98, 101-104, 99-100, 105-113, 21; 50, 10, 4; [1], 24, 5, [1]; 14, 15, 17-26, 8; 9; 5 leaves. Leaves bound out of sequence (leaves 101-104 bound after leaf 98). Lacking four leaves at beginning of Tractate Sanhedrin and leaf 16 of Tractate Soferim. 34 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains, worming, tears and extensive wear, affecting text in several places. Dampstains and traces of past dampness, with mold on several leaves. Detached leaves and gatherings. Without binding.

Hilchot Rav Alfas, on Order Nashim, Order Nezikin and Tractate Chulin, including Halachot Ketanot, with Rashi, the Ran and Nimukei Yosef. Riva di Trento: [Antonio Bruin, 1559]. Two volumes.
Both volumes contain hundreds of lengthy glosses in Italian script (by several writers), from the time of printing [second half of the 16th century]. In those times, a decree banning Torah books was in effect in Italy, having begun with the burning of the Talmud in Rome on Rosh Hashanah 1553. Jews were prohibited from owning, studying and printing the Talmud, yet the books of the Rif were allowed. Therefore, the primary texts studied by Italian Torah scholars in those years were the books of the Rif, on which they attempted to reconstruct the words of the Talmudic sages, based on the teachings in the books of Rishonim and other sources (regarding the decree on Torah books in Italy, see: Introduction to Chiddushei R. Moshe Cases, Machon Yerushalayim, 1988; A. Yaari, Serefat HaTalmud BeItalia; M. Benayahu, HaDfus HaIvri BeCremona; and others). These glosses contain many passages from the Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot, quotations from the teachings of the Rishonim (such as the Ramban, Rashba and Rosh) and from other works, together with the writers' original thoughts. Many of the glosses are trimmed.
This edition originally comprised three volumes. The present volumes are the second and third.
Halachot Ketanot was bound at the end of the volume on Order Nashim, leaves 853-872. These leaves were originally bound in the first volume of Hilchot Raf Alfas, on Tractate Berachot and Order Moed (not included here). This section is followed by 21 leaves with a separate title page: "Novellae of Rabbenu Nissim, with a table of all the laws". Riva di Trento, 1558. An abridgment of the Ran's novellae in his commentary to the Rif, compiled by R. Yosef Ottolengo.
Vol. I (Order Nashim and Tractate Chulin, Halachot Ketanot and indexes of the Ran): 2-3, 6-268 leaves (lacking 3 leaves: title page and leaves 4-5); 853-872 leaves (Halachot Ketanot); 21 leaves (novellae of Rabbenu Nissim). Final leaves bound out of sequence. 27.5 cm. Vol. II (Order Nezikin): 2-5, 8-302, [8] leaves (lacking 3 leaves: title page and leaves 6-7). 31 cm. Overall fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Extensive wear to some leaves, especially in vol. II. Many tears and damage affecting text, repaired with paper, especially to first and final leaves of vol. II (with partial handwritten text replacements) and to first leaves of vol. I. Leaves trimmed in several places close to text, slightly affecting text. Several detached leaves. Worming to several leaves. Old bindings.