AVRAHAM BEN NATHAN OF LUNEL (Hayarchi). Sepher HaManhig. FIRST...

AVRAHAM BEN NATHAN OF LUNEL
(Hayarchi). Sepher HaManhig.

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut block floral border.
ff. (130). Few expert paper repairs, stained in places, previous owners marks. Modern gilt-ruled green crushed morocco by Weitz & Coleman. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Const. 110.
Constantinople: Solomon ben Mazal-Tov 1519

The first work on European Minhag. A record of customs, particularly concerning prayer and synagogue functions, as practiced in Provence, southern France. The explicit purpose here was to demonstrate the Halachic underpinning for every Minhag. Due to the wider circulation of Halachic decisions emanating from Spanish Rabbinic authorities, a need arose to record indigenous communal practices and so prevent confusion. The work also details Minhag in Germany, England and elsewhere, providing information found nowhere else. The author, R. Abraham ben Nathan of Lunel (1155-1215), was a disciple of R. Abraham ben David of Posquières (RABa, D), famous for his glosses to Maimonides and to Alfasi. See Isadore Twersky, Rabad of Posquières (1962), pp. 240-44. A good copy of a significant and rare text.