Five Books of the Torah, with five Megilot and year-round Haftarot according to the Ashkenazic custom, in Yiddish translation. Konstanz (Germany): [Paul Fagius], 1544. First printed translation of the Torah and five Megilot into Yiddish.

Fine, complete copy in elaborate early leather binding, decorated with clasps.

The present book is the first printing of a Yiddish translation of the Torah and five Megilot. Another edition of the Torah in Yiddish translation was published in Augsburg the same year (June 1544), but the present edition was printed several months earlier (evidently in March 1544; see Rosenfeld's article, below).

Most of the text is printed in Yiddish, in semi-cursive Ashkenazic script (later known as Tzenah URenah script, after its common use in printings of that book). Initial panels, titles and Hebrew words in main text printed in square Ashkenazic script.

Title page printed in Hebrew, followed by a Yiddish introduction spanning several leaves. The introduction begins with an explanation of the need for and importance of a Yiddish translation of the Torah, followed by basic explanations of Hebrew grammar. The introduction adds that the book was primarily intended for women and girls who spent their time reading worthless books.

Hebrew and Yiddish explanations on margins.

Divisional title page for five Megilot.

Some copies of this edition were intended for a Christian audience, with a title page and introduction printed in German (as opposed to the present edition, which was intended for a Jewish audience, the introduction of the edition for Christians was signed in print by Fagius).

Some attributed this translation to R. Eliyahu Bachur, who worked for Fagius in the years leading up to this printing in his Isny press, where some of his books were printed. This attribution is given already in Siftei Yeshenim by R. Shabtai Bass, followed by other bibliographers. However, according to Morris Faierstein (cited below), R. Eliyahu Bachur did not follow Fagius when he moved from Isny to Konstanz in 1543, instead returning to Venice, and did not take part in the present work. Nevertheless, R. Eliyahu Bachur notably printed several books in Yiddish, including a Yiddish translation of Tehillim (Venice, 1545), approximately a year after the printing of the present book.

Inscriptions on title page and last leaf, some test scrawls and some in Yiddish.

Complete copy. [304] leaves. Misfoliation of leaves [2]-[3]. 19.5 cm. Decorated gilt edges. Good condition. Stains, including dampstains and dark stains to several leaves. Inner margins of title page and several other leaves repaired with paper. Close trimming, slightly affecting marginal notes in several places. Early gilt-decorated leather binding, with clasps (one clasp detached). Damage to binding.

Very few books in Hebrew type were printed in Konstanz.

Complete copy of an especially rare edition. One complete copy is known to exist in the Bodleian collection. The British Library contains a copy missing the title page (see: Zedner Catalogue, reference below). The copy appearing in the NLI catalogue is missing the first four leaves and four more leaves in the middle.

Reference:

· A.M. Haberman, HaMadpis Paulus Fagius VeSifrei Beit Defuso, in: Perakim BeToldot HaMadpisim HaIvriyim, Jerusalem, 1978, pp. 149-166, no. 17.

· Morris M. Faierstein, Paulus Fagius and the first published Yiddish translation of the "Humash" – Constance, 1544, Judaica: Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums, 73, 1, 2017, p. 1-35.

· Moshe N. Rosenfeld, The Origins of Yiddish Printing, in: Dovid Katz (ed.), Origins of the Yiddish Language, vol. 10, Winter Studies in Yiddish, vol. 1, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1987, pp. 111-126, no. 13.

CB, no. 1187; Zedner, p. 107.