Chazon LaMoed, commentary to the Book of Daniel, by R. Shmuel son of R. Yehuda Valerio. Venice: Zuan di Gara, [1586]. "Bomberg typeface".
Early ownership inscription on the title page: "That which G-d granted his servant, Yoav son of Baruch delli Piatelli" (a Torah scholar of Rome in 1668. He brought to print the book Margaliot Tovot by R. Yaakov Tzahalon, Venice 1665).
Copy of the Malbim. On leaf 6 of the first sequence (at the end of the preface): stamp of the Malbim, with a crowned eagle emblem and the inscription: "Meir Leibush Malbim Rabbi of Bucharest", in Hebrew and Romanian (somewhat faint).
R. Meir Leibush Malbim (=Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel; 1809-1879), a Biblical commentator and leading rabbi of his generation, erudite in both revealed and hidden realms of the Torah (his teacher for Kabbalah was R. Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov). In his youth, he authored the book Artzot HaChaim on Shulchan Aruch, which earned the effusive approbation of the Chatam Sofer and gained him renown as an exceptional Torah scholar.
Wherever he served as rabbi or visited (he served as rabbi of Wreschen, Kempen, Bucharest, Kherson, Łęczyca, Mogilev and Königsberg), he was renowned for the uncompromising battle he waged against modernism, Haskalah and Reform, which elicited much harassment. During his tenure in Bucharest, he fought the Maskilim, who retaliated by contriving a blood libel. This resulted in him being imprisoned and sentenced to death, and only thanks to the intervention of Sir Moses Montefiore was his punishment reduced to expulsion from Romania.
The spread of Haskalah drove him to devote his time and skills to composing a systematic commentary to the Bible, with the goal of clarifying the depth of wisdom which lies in the words of the sages, and proving the veracity of Oral law. This resulted in his famous commentary to the Bible, which was well-received throughout the Jewish world and reprinted in hundreds of editions.
Many words expurgated by the censor throughout the book, some have faded with time. Censor's inscription on title page. Late inscription on front endpaper: "Messianic calculations – see leaf 110… Avraham Yitzchak Segal Kopolevitz".
6, 108, 110-111 leaves (originally: 6, 112 leaves), lacking two leaves: 109 and 112. Leaves 97-98 erroneously bound between 100-101. 19 cm. Fair condition. Stains, dampstains and traces of mold. Wear and tears, affecting text in a few places. Open tears to title page, affecting border, repaired with paper. Old parchment binding, damaged.