Bidspirit auction | IBN SHEM TOV, SHEM TOV

IBN SHEM TOV, SHEM TOV BEN JOSEPH - Derashoth HaTorah [sermons to the Pentateuch].. Third edition. Title within architectural arch. f. 81. Foxed, censored in places. Modern blind-tooled calf. Folio. Vinograd, Padua 2. Lorenzo Pasquato, Padua: 1567. Though a prolific author of philosophic works, only two works by ibn Shem Tov (Spain, 15th century) were published - the present Derashoth HaTorah and the commentary to Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed - which continues to this day to be reprinted in standard editions of the Guide.      Derashoth Ha-Torah cites abundantly from the author’s predecessors: Sa’adyah, Rashi, ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, Gersonides - with constant referral to the Guide (“HaMoreh”). Appended are several sermons on the theme of Repentance (Derash LeTeshuvah).      Despite the ancient presence of the University - one of the great institutions of learning in Europe - only two Hebrew books were printed in Padua throughout the 16th-century. See Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy, pp. 338-41 and 387-88.