RARE FIRST VOLUME ONLY (ALL PUBLISHED). FIRST EDITION of the first modern scientific text-book on rabbinical literature by an influential Bohemian-German rabbi and historian Zecharias Frankel (also Zacharias Frankel, 1801-1875). The founder and the most eminent member of the school of historical Judaism, Frankel is considered the intellectual progenitor of Conservative Judaism, which advocates freedom of research, while upholding the authority of traditional Jewish belief and practice. His introduction to Mishna has largely inspired subsequent works of that kind, as those of Jacob Brüll and Isaac H. Weiss. 205x135mm. X+344 pages. Quarter-cloth black rebound Hardcover. Cover and cover corners rubbed. Cover edges heavily rubbed and somewhat peeling. Spine wrinkled. Spine edges and hinges rubbed. Spine bottom edge bumped/wrinkled. Binding creased. Ex-library copy with two stamps on Hebrew title-page and two stickers on spine. Ink inscription on Latin title-page verso. Binding loose and visible between pages 4-5 and 318-319. Pencil underlining/notes on many pages. Title-pages and some other pages age-stained. Pages yellowing and wavy. [SUMMARY]: This extremely rare first edition of one of the most valuable attempts at a systematized exposition of early rabbinical literature history and theology is in good reading condition.