Zemirot Shabbat by the Maharshal, with His Commentary – Lublin, 1596 – Signature of the Shelah – Only Known ...

Zemirot Shabbat by the Maharshal, with His Commentary – Lublin, 1596 – Signature of the Shelah – Only Known Complete Copy

Order of songs by R. Shlomo Luria. Lublin: Kalonymus son of Mordechai Yoffe, [1596]. First edition.
Songs for the three Shabbat meals and Motza'ei Shabbat, by R. Shlomo Luria – the Maharshal, with his commentary.
Copy of R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz, the Shelah, with his signature at the top of the title page, largely cropped due to trimming of margins: "…Yeshaya son of R. Avraham Segal Horowitz". Upon close comparison, the signature remnants were found to uncontestably match his known signatures (see his signature in the Pinkas of the Frankfurt community, NLI Ms. 662=24, p. 45b; a photocopy of his signature in Kerem Shlomo, Year VIII, Issue 9, Av 1985, p. 11; and a photocopy of his signature at the beginning of Shenei Luchot HaBrit, Yad Ramah edition, Haifa, 1997 – the text of the latter identical. The present copy was previously owned by Dr. Israel Mehlman, who wrote in a penciled note at the beginning of the book: "Most probably the trimmed signature at the beginning of the book is that of R. Yeshaya Horowitz – the Shelah").
On the verso of the title page, inscription in early script (from the same period), containing a draft of a letter opening.
This is the only known extant complete copy of Seder HaZemirot by the Maharshal (see below).
The present copy also contains an important discovery: in the songs for Motza'ei Shabbat, there is an alphabetical piyyut on Eliyahu HaNavi. In this first edition, and in all subsequent editions (until this day), the piyyut was printed with the omission of the first stanza, and begins with the second stanza (starting with the letter Bet).
In the present copy, two strips of paper were pasted in the margins, with the printed text of the omitted stanza and its commentary. This complement to the piyyut of the Maharshal is not known from any other source, nor was it printed until this day (including in the new edition of the zemirot, at the end of the Zichron Aharon edition of Responsa of the Maharshal). Davidson was not aware of this omission either (see: Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry, Alef, 4996; and in part IV, Tashlum Mafte'ach HaMekorot, entry Seder HaZemirot).
This passage was presumably added in the printing press, after it was discovered that the first stanza of the piyyut was mistakenly omitted in printing. The (incomplete) copy held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford also includes a pasted strip of paper with this complement, though it is half lacking. The present book is therefore presumably the only source in the world for completing the piyyut and commentary of the Maharshal.
Ownership inscription on the back endpaper: "This book… belongs to my grandfather… R. Yehuda Leib Heilperin…" (R. Yehuda Leib Heilperin – a rabbi in Posen; his signature appears together with those of the Torah scholars of the Posen yeshiva on an approbation to the book Yam shel Shlomo on Tractate Gittin, Berlin 1761].

R. Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz (1570-1630), leading Torah scholar of his times and prominent kabbalist, renowned throughout the Jewish world. Disciple of the Maharshal of Lublin (the second – R. Shlomo R. Leibush's), of R. Yehoshua Falk Kohen author of Sema and of the Maharam of Lublin. He served as rabbi in Dubno, Ostroh, Frankfurt am Main and Prague. In 1621, he immigrated to Eretz Israel, where he served as the first rabbi of the Ashkenazim in Jerusalem and Nesi Eretz Israel. He is buried in Tiberias in the courtyard of the graves of the Rambam and R. Yochanan ben Zakkai.
He is renowned for his book Shenei Luchot HaBrit – Shelah, which contains ethics, halachah and kabbalah.

4, [17] leaves. 18.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including large dampstains. Wear. Open tears to several leaves, affecting text, repaired in part with paper. Worming, slightly affecting text. Leaves trimmed with slight damage to title page border and with damage to text. Penciled inscriptions inside board (by Dr. Israel Mehlman). New leather binding.

Regarding year of printing, see: Steinschneider, CB, no. 6950, 19, column 2369.
This is the only extant complete copy. There is another copy in the Bodleian Library (Collection of R. David Oppenheim), comprising [18] leaves only, see: Steinschneider, ibid.