Rare: Sefer Tehillim – Psalterium Hebraeum – Menasseh ben Yisrael Press, Amsterdam 1634

Rare: Sefer Tehillim – Psalterium Hebraeum – Menasseh ben Yisrael Press, Amsterdam 1634

A complete copy of a miniature edition of Sefer Tehillim, Amsterdam 1634. Printed at the famed printing house of Menasseh ben Yisrael, who was particularly well-known for his exacting printing standards, both in terms of quality and accuracy. In his preface to the Tanach which he printed in 1639, he exclaims that although our sages teach that one may not take pleasure in his friend’s downfall, nonetheless the beauty of his edition in contrast to others, is evident and self-explanatory. He estimates more than 300 textual corrections were made, making it one of the most textually accurate Bibles ever printed to date. As such, a Tehillim edited by Menassah ben Israel is all the more so important, since the text is without doubt the most accurate and totally free of errors. 

The first of three editions printed by Menasseh ben Yisroel, and the first independent Hebrew Tehillim printed in Amsterdam.  

Menasseh ben Yisrael’s press is perhaps the only Jewish-owned printing press which is known for its outstanding and exacting standards with regard to print quality and text accuracy.

Title in Latin and Hebrew with architectural woodcut arch; trimmed, as in all copies. Bound in original vellum binding (lightly stained). 

[132] pp. 

Page size: Approx 10cm