BIBLIA RABBINICA THE "MIKRAOT GEDOLOT" BIBLE A Reprint of the 1525 Venice Edition . . . 690.00   . This famous edition of the Hebrew bible, more than any other, determined the history of all subsequent printed Bibles down to the present day. Both the text and the additional commentaries chosen by later publishers closely follow the first "Mikraot Gedolot", and the similarity exists even with regards to the format. The original Mikraot Gedolot was prepared by the Tunisian Ya'akov ben Hayyim ibn Adoniyahu, who was editor and proofreader at the renowned Hebrew press of Daniel Bombberg of Venice . Ya'akov ben Hayyim claims in the introduction to have collected numerous Bible manuscripts, in an effort to reach the "original" Ben-Asher version, and therefore also made use of several lists of Masorah. Indeed, he appears to have fully realized the importance of these lists, and his edition of the Bible was the first publication of the Large and Small Masorah. Until recently the Mikraot Gedolot edition was considered the truest representative of the traditional Bible text, and even today, following the discovery of ancient manuscripts (e.g.Leningrad, Cairo mss.) unknown to ben Hayyim, his edition remains invaluable, inasmuch as major portion of the traditions incorporated in it no longer exist in other sources. This importance is further enhanced by the Aramaic Targums and classic commentaries also included in the original Mikraot Gedolot.    4 Volumes