ידעיה בן אברהם הבדרשי׃ בחינת עולם Yedayah ben Avraham (ha-)Bedersi: Bechinat ‘olam (Examination of the World). Soncino: Joshua Solomon Soncino, December 1484.
Department of Oriental and Judaica Collections, Inc. 4315

Fol. 12v-13r

The work Bechinat ‘olam by Yedayah ben Avraham Bedersi (c. 1270-c. 1340) is about the value of intellectual activities. It had already been printed once (in Mantova 1474?), when a member of the famous Soncino family of printers (probably Joshua Solomon Soncino, son of Israel Nathan Soncino) printed it in December 1484, in Soncino, Italy. This edition – which is seen above – includes a commentary of uncertain authorship.
Italy was a centre for the earliest Hebrew printing, from the 1470’s and onwards.
In the opening displayed, both ordinary square types and the so-called Rashi types (based on cursive scripts) are used.

21.4 x 15.3 cm.

© Det Kongelige Bibliotek 2003