MIDRASH TILLIM (MIDRASH ON PSALMS), PART 1, CONSTANTINOPLE: [SAMUEL BEN DAVID IBN NAHMIAS], 1512

The first edition of one of the most beautiful works of aggadic literature.

The title page of the present work gives its name as Midrash tillim, using a common truncation for the proper Hebrew name of the book of Psalms (Tehillim). While the identity of the redactors of Midrash tillim (also known as Aggadat tehillim or Midrash shoher tov) is unknown, the book is evidently a medieval collection of homilies on Psalms, compiled over the course of several centuries from various sources, with some aggadic elements traceable to the early Talmudic period. This edition comprises discourses on psalms 1-118 (with the homily on psalm 118 divided in two); the continuation of the work, on psalms 119-150, would be published in Salonika circa 1515 (see lot 238). Midrash tillim was the first title printed by Samuel ben David Ibn Nahmias, who became proprietor of the Ibn Nahmias press after the deaths of his father and uncle.