the first book by Rabbi Refael Moshe Buleh

The first book by Rabbi Refael Moshe Buleh: teachings on the books of Genesis and Exodus.

Rabbi Refael Moshe ben Yosef Buleh (?-1773) was one of Chachmey Yerushalaim (the Wise Men or scholars of Jerusalem) and served as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel (HaRishon LeZion). He was born in Thessaloniki and served as the Rabbi of Ancona, Italy, before travelling to the Holy Land and settling in Jerusalem. He travelled to Constantinople on fund-raising trips and in 1752 this was his first book to be printed there. In the Preface Buleh mentions that there had been an increase in people who made Aliyah (the ascent) to Jerusalem at that time, and the matter was unsettling for the local Arab population.

The book was published by Reuven and Nissim, sons of the printer Yona ben Yaakov Ashkenazi, who ran his Hebrew printing house for 36 years following their father's death. More on the history of Ashkenazi's print house can be found in Yaari's 'Hebrew Printing at Constantinople' (1967).

First edition; small folio (29 x 20.2 cm), modern half-calf, red morocco label to spine with gilt English title & ornaments; some dampstaining, browning, & foxing, with restoration to some leaves, a few small marginal tears; old ink inscriptions to title & some pages; [3], 109 ll.

Vinograd, (Const.) 565; Yaari 429, p.209.