Auction_72_unlocked

Fine Judaica

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Printed Books, Manuscripts,
Autograph Letters , Holy Land Maps & Fine Art

K estenbaum & Compa ny

Th ur sday, M a rch 16t h, 2017

Kestenbaum & Company
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Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art

A

Kestenbaum & Company

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Chairman: Daniel E. Kestenbaum
Operations Manager: Jackie S. Insel
Client Relations: Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq.
Printed Books & Manuscripts: Rabbi Eliezer Katzman
David Wachtel
Ceremonial & Graphic Art: Abigail H. Meyer
Catalogue Art Director
and Photographer: Anthony Leonardo
Auctioneer: Zushye Kestenbaum

(NYCDCA License no: 2044881)

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For all inquiries relating to this sale please contact:
Daniel E. Kestenbaum

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Order of Sale:
Fine & Graphic Art: Lot 1 - 28
Printed Books: Lots 29 - 225
Manuscripts & Autograph Letters: Lots 226 - 267
Holy Land Maps: Lots 268 - End of Sale

Front Cover Illustration: See Lot 1
Back Cover Illustration: See Lot 154

List of prices realized will be posted on our website following the sale
www.kestenbaum.net

Catalogue of

Fine Judaica

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Featuring:

Two Sumptuous Portrait Paintings
by Isidor Kaufmann

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An Archive of Autograph Letters by
the Lubavitcher Rebbe

R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson
and his Sons-in-Law

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Correspondence between R. Amram Blau
and his future-wife, Ruth Ben-David

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An Uncut, Unopened Copy of the Polyglot Psalter,
Genoa, 1516

———
To be Offered for Sale by Auction,
Thursday, 16th March, 2017 at 3:00 pm precisely

———
242 West 30th Street, 12th Floor
(Between Seventh & Eighth Avenues)

New York, NY 10001
———

Viewing Beforehand:
Monday, 13th March - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Tuesday, 14th March - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesday, 15th March - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

No Viewing on the Day of Sale

Special viewing hours for exhibitors at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair
available by appointment

This Sale may be referred to as: “Cuenque” Sale Number Seventy-Two
Illustrated Catalogues: $38 (US) * $45 (Overseas)

KESTENBAUM & COMPANY
Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art
...........................................

242 West 30th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001 • Tel: 212 366-1197 • Fax: 212 366-1368

E-mail: [email protected] • World Wide Web Site: www.Kestenbaum.net

1 KAUFMANN, ISIDOR. (1853-1921) Portrait of a Young Jewish Bride. Oil on wood panel. Signed by artist along lower left margin.
c. 1905. Lavish gilt frame in a Jugendstil style. Museum exhibition markings on verso. Dimensions: 31.8 x 25.5 cm / 12.75 x 10 inches.
ACCOMPANIED BY: Detailed letter of provenance written by the artist’s son, Philipp Kaufmann (London, 1964).
$200,000-300,000
❧ THE MOST OUTSTANDING OF ALL JEWISH PORTRAIT ARTISTS.
The image of the Jewish Bride is particularly well-known due to Rembrandt’s iconic bridal portrait of 1667 which featured the
Biblical Isaac and his wife Rebecca. That image shares many qualities with the present painting by Kaufmann, both in regard to artistic
presentation and emotional texture.
Artistically, our example, featuring a young woman, is, like her earlier counterpart, dressed in colors of gold and scarlet - a style of
almost Byzantine opulence. Rembrandt’s version being interpreted in the fashion of the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century and
Kaufmann’s version, in the tradition of 19th century Polish refined splendor.
Kaufmann’s portrait here depicts the sitter wearing the traditional garb of a well-to-do, Orthodox, Aschkenazic woman. Particularly
characteristic are her head-coverings: A wig-like kupke, over which is the sterntichel - or star-form tiara made of precious stones (or in
this case, pearls) - which was worn by Eastern European Jewish women on the Sabbath and Festivals. The diadem spoke of her socio-
economic status, for a woman of her affluent class would often donate a stone or pearl from her sterntichel to assist a needy bride.
The sitter also wears a luxuriant striped shawl trimmed with fur, which appears in other female portraits by Kaufmann. One notices
a hint to the bib-like fabric plastron, or bindalik, he elsewhere incorporated. This vertical kerchief was a distinctly Jewish adornment
worn by married women, known by some as a “brüsttüch.” Finally, a pair of delicate pearl earrings completes her parure.
This same model, in identical costume, is seen in Kaufmann’s “Young Woman in Synagogue,” where the lady is found seated in
the synagogue holding an ethrog (see Natter (ed.) Kaufmann Catalogue, p. 200).
Affixed to the reverse of our painting is a letter dated 28th February, 1964, written by the artist’s son, Philipp Kaufmann, in which
the model is identified as Marie Pauline Kaufmann, the artist’s daughter, affectionately referred to as “Mizzi.” Philipp continues: “My
father had the greatest difficulties in finding the original old bridal costume. He finally located it in Poland.” According to Philip’s
letter, the costume was displayed in the ‘Sabbath Room’ of the Jewish Museum of Vienna. This was a period diorama installed in the
museum from 1899 to 1938, of the furniture, ritual objects and clothing one might find in much of Kaufmann’s works.
The subject of an Orthodox Jewish woman is a painting Kaufmann created far less often than his portraits of Hasidic men. Her
appearance here is one of both intimacy and serenity. Despite the modest gaze, her demeanor is calmly confident, relaxed in the
supreme dignity of her faith. A belief-system that to many of her era - especially in Western Europe - viewed as a backward, dying
culture, yet here, ironically celebrated and appreciated in art form by the assimilated and cosmopolitan Jewish bourgeoisie of fin de
siècle Vienna.

PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from Philipp Kaufmann, son of the artist. London, c. 1964. Thence by direct family descent to the present owners.

EXHIBITED:

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem: Making an Entrance: Jewish Artists in 19th-Century Europe, 2013-14.
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Isidor Kaufmann: A Special Exhibit, 2005-06.

LITERATURE:

Mechira Pumbit [Israeli Art Journal], (Sept. 2005) pp. 16-21.
Zuza [Russian Art Journal], (2006) pp. 136-141.
For a very similar Kaufmann portrait to ours, presently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (accession no. 2014.513) and previously
in the Fuhrman collection, Santiago, Chile, see Catalogue of the Jewish Museum of Vienna, Isidor Kaufmann G.T. Natter (ed.), (1995)
pp. 192-3 (illus.) entitled: “Hannah.”

Detail of Signature

2

Insert Gate fold file here

3

28, Abercorn Place 28.2.1964
London, N.W. 8.
Cunningham 1375

The painting “PORTRAIT of a young
Jewish BRIDE in three-quarter profile
to the left, with a golden
yellow silk bonnet with
beaded jewelry, a white embroidered
dress, and a burgundy handkerchief.
Greenish background, my
father Isidor Kaufman[n] painted
it approximately in 1905
it depicts my sister Mizzi
who was the model in this picture.
My father had the greatest difficulties
to find the original old bridal costume,
he found it in Poland -
costume is displayed, in Isidor Kaufman[n]’s
Jewish Museum: the Shabbat Room.
The picture is fully signed at the bottom left.
Philipp Kaufmann

Autograph Letter by Philipp Kaufmann concerning this painting English translation of letter.
(accompanies the lot).

Kaufmann’s Schabbes Room installation. Rembrandt van Rijn, Het Joodse Bruidje.
Credit: Jüdisches Museum Wien. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Lot 1

Lot 2
2 KAUFMANN, ISIDOR. Portrait of Hasid at Prayer. Oil on wood panel.

Signed by artist along right margin. Finely framed. Museum exhibition
markings on verso. Dimensions: 15.5 x 12 cm / 6.25 x 4.75 inches.

(Austro-Hungarian, 1853-1921). $60,000-80,000
❧ PROVENANCE:
Acquired directly from Philip Kaufmann, son of the artist.
London, c. 1963. Thence by family descent to the present owners.

THIS FINE PORTRAIT BY KAUFMANN HAS NEVER BEFORE APPEARED AT
AUCTION, NOR HAS IT EVER BEEN PUBLICLY EXHIBITED.

For another portrait executed by Kaufmann and featuring this
model, see Sotheby’s New York, 19th Century European Art, 18th
April 2007, lot 30.

4

5

3 PILICHOWSKI, LEOPOLD. Talmud Students (study for
an oil painting). Charcoal and pastel on board. Boldly
signed center right. 20 x 26 inches.

c. 1925. $3000-5000

❧ Polish-born Pilichowski (1869-1933), perhaps
most celebrated for his monumental painting
of the opening of the Hebrew University on
Mt. Scopus in 1925, often executed paintings
with religious themes, activities and locations
- such as our Jewish House of Study theme.
The work is a study for what was to become
the completed oil painting “Talmud Students
in the House of Study,” currently housed and
exhibited in the Mendel Gottesman Library of
Yeshiva University, New York. “The painting
was presented to Yeshiva College in honor of
the dedication of Yeshiva’s new building in
Washington Heights in December 1928, by
Mr. Bernard London, a member of Yeshiva’s
Board of Directors… The painting of the
Talmud Students in the House of Study hung
Lot 3 prominently in the original Library of Yeshiva
College, and was featured proudly as the
centerpiece of official Yeshiva College faculty and graduation photographs for many years. The painting was moved to its current location
when the Mendel Gottesman Library Building opened in 1969.” See http://blogs.yu.edu/library/2011/03/07/art-and-adar-in-the-library/.

4 (POLAND) Gansemarkt in Krakau. With signature reading:
“A. Schönn.” Giclée. 31.25 x 25 inches to frame.
(20th century). $1000-1500
❧ A quaint image of Jews at the Goose Market in
Cracow. Based upon Austrian genre painter and engraver
Alois Schönn’s (1826-97) 1869 painting in the Academy
of Fine Arts, Vienna, where Schönn himself studied.

Lot 4
6

Lot 5
5 KOLOZSVARY, LAJOS. Study Partners. Oil on panel. Signed in red, lower right. Framed.

8.25 x 10.5 inches.
(Hungarian, 1871-1937). $2000- 3000

6 MARKOWICZ, ARTUR. Game of Chess. Pastel. Signed by artist lower right. Taped on verso:
Letter of authentication written in Polish by the art historian Dr. Stanislaw Dabrowski, Cracow.
Unexamined out of frame. 12.25 x 19 inches to frame.
(Polish, 1872-1934). $3000-5000

Lot 6

7

Lot 7

7 (PEN, YEHUDA After). The Divorce (Get). Oil on canvas. Depicts the rabbinical court and the two sides of this
dramatic divorce proceedings. Unsigned. 48 x 62 inches. Framed.
St. Petersburg, circa 1980. $7000-9000
❧ Yehuda (Yuri) Pen (1854-1937) was one of the most significant artists representative of the Jewish
Renaissance in Russian and Belarusian art at the beginning of 20th century. Pen established a celebrated
school of art in Vitebsk, where his pupils included Chagall, Lissitzky and Ossip Zadkine. The vast majority
of Pen’s extant works are currently found in the Belarus National Museum of Art in Minsk and the Vitebsk
Museum of Art.
The present canvas “The Get” was commissioned by an American businessman during the course of
multiple visits to the Soviet Union during the 1970’s and 1980’s (as were the next two lots.)
Pen’s original painting, completed in 1907, presently hangs in the Vitebsk Museum of Art. See G.
Kasovsky, Masterpeices of Jewish Art: Artists from Vitebsk-Yehuda Pen and his Pupils (Moscow, 1995).

8 (POLAND) Chassidic Chess Players. Oil on canvas. Signed in Cyrillic lower left: Mikola Pavlusenko. 30 x 45
inches.
St. Petersburg, circa 1980. $2000-3000
❧ This painting is based upon a photograph taken in the Yehudia summer camp, just outside Warsaw, in
Dlugosiodlo, Poland, circa 1920’s.
(See YIVO Digital Archive, Life in Poland, no. yarg120po705.01).

8

Lot 9

9 (RUSSIA) Cantonist Scene. Oil on canvas. Signed in Cyrillic lower left: Valeri Sigle. 29.5 x 42.5 inches. Framed.
St. Petersburg, circa 1980. $4000-6000

❧ Based on an early 20th-century postcard, this dramatic painting, set in 19th-century Czarist Russia, depicts
the forced conscription of a young Jewish boy into the Russian military forces.

Lot 8

9

Lot 10 Lot 10

Lot 10 Lot 10
10

Lot 10 Lot 10

10 RYBACK, ISSACHAR BER. Group of six drawings on paper.
Subjects include character portraits and rural scenes. Including
charcoal, pencil, pen- and/or brush-and-ink. Five signed by the
artist in ink or pencil below images. (One drawing with minute
punctures.) Ranging from 15 x 12 inches to 16 x 13 inches.
(Russian, 1897-1935). $4000-6000
❧ Provenance: Sotheby’s Tel Aviv, Judaica, October 2nd,
1991, Lot 80.

11

11 (AMERICAN-JUDAICA). Service on the Day of
Atonement by the Israelite Soldiers of the Prussian
Army before Metz 1870. Colored lithograph.
Text in German, English and Hebrew. Two minor
chips along top margin and minor tear along right
margin, none affecting image or text. 21.75 x 26.5
inches (sheet size).

New York, H. Schile, 1871. $2000-3000

❧ This lithograph depicts the Kol Nidre
service performed on Yom Kippur 1870,
for Jewish soldiers in the Prussian army
stationed near Metz (Alsace) during the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
The Germans had occupied Metz by
August of 1870, however were unable to
capture the town’s formidable fortress,
where the remaining French troops had
sought refuge. During the siege, Yom Kippur
was marked while hostilities still continued,
as depicted in the lithograph.
It seems surprising that such an image
would appeal to American Jews, an event
both geographically and politically distant.
Perhaps it was an attempt to gain their
Lot 11 sympathy. The lithograph is unknown to

Singerman, who equally fails to record any of the publisher’s other productions. A similar image was produced on linen, see Catalogue of the
Jewish Museum (London), p. 135, no. 664.

12 (MENDOZA, DANIEL). “Daniel Mendoza and Richard Humphreys. “This Boxing Match Took Place at Doncaster Sept. 29th 1790 on a Twenty
Four Foot Stage and was the Third Public Contest Between the Two Pugilists. It Lasted for about an Hour and Five Minutes and was Decided in
Favour of Mendoza.” Hand-colored stipple engraving. Drawn by C.R. Ryley. Engraved by I. Grozer. Unexamined out of gilt frame. 11.25 x 14 inches
to mat. Rubens, Jewish Iconography 1845.
(London, c. 1790) $1000-1500

Lot 12
12

Lot 13
13 (JERUSALEM). Alexandre Bida. Le Juifs Devant le Mur de Salomon.

Minor tear on left margin (no loss). Unusually wide margins. 27.75 x
37.75 inches (Sheet size).

France, c. 1880. $1500- 2500
❧ Large print on contemporary wide marginal mount. Issued by
Goupil in Paris and Knoedler in New York.

An enduring scene of Jews in prayer at the Western Wall,
Jerusalem, by the masterful French artist Alexandre Bida (1813-95).

14 WORMSER, YITZCHAK ARYEH ZEKEL LEIB (BAAL SHEM OF
MICHELSTADT). Engraving of the Baal Shem, the Great Rabbi Sekel Lev
from Michelstadt. Half-length portrait facing front. With captions below
in Hebrew and French. Lithography by Simon fils of Strasbourg. Stained,
repair along left margin. 7 x 6 inches image size (11 x 9 leaf size).
Germany, early 19th-century. $2000- 2500
❧ Yitzchak Aryeh Zekel Leib Wormser (1768-1847) was
celebrated as the Baal Shem of Michelstadt due to his
reputation as a master of occult powers and who rigorously
followed an ascetic, Chassidic way of life.

Lot 14

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Lot 15
15 (PHOTOGRAPHY). VISHNIAC, ROMAN. Snow: Kazimierz, Krakow. Gelatin silver print. Noted in pencil on verso:

“Printed by Igor Bakht, 1970’s.” Hors Edition. 16 x 20 inches.
(1938) printed 1970’s. $1500-2500

❧ The wall sign announces in Hebrew the upcoming holiday of Chanukah.
PROVENANCE: From the estate of the photographer and Vishniac’s printer, Igor Bakht.
LITERATURE: A Vanished World, pl. 156.

14

16 (PHOTOGRAPHY). VISHNIAC, ROMAN. The Rabbi,
Warsaw. Gelatin silver print. Noted in pencil on verso: “Printed
by Igor Bakht, 1970’s.” Hors Edition. 20 x 16 inches.
(1938) printed 1970’s. $1500-2500
❧ PROVENANCE: From the estate of the photographer
and Vishniac’s printer, Igor Bakht.
LITERATURE: A Vanished World, pl. 12.

Lot 16

17 (PHOTOGRAPHY). VISHNIAC, ROMAN. The Cheder in
Slonim. Gelatin silver print. Noted in pencil on verso: “Printed
by Igor Bakht, 1970’s.” Hors Edition. 20 x 16 inches.
(1938) printed 1970’s. $1500-2500
❧ PROVENANCE: From the estate of the photographer
and Vishniac’s printer, Igor Bakht.
LITERATURE: A Vanished World, pl. 146.

Lot 17

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Lot 18
18 RABAN, ZE’EV Pastoral Landscape, Jerusalem. Pencil and pen-and-ink on paper. With notations and corrections by the artist

in pencil, along with his stamp. With explanatory typed note from the Debel Gallery on verso. From the collection of the late
Stanley I. Batkin. Unexamined out of frame. 4.25 x 15 inches to mat.

Jerusalem, 1929. $2000-3000
❧ PROVENANCE: From the collection of the late Stanley I. Batkin.

EXHIBITED: Yeshiva University Museum, New York, 1982-84.

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Lot 19 Lot 20
19 RABAN, ZE’EV Study for synagogue stained glass window. 20 RABAN, ZE’EV Gates of Jerusalem at Sabbath Eve. Encircled by

Watercolor on paper. Signed and dated lower right. From the verses from Book of Nehemiah (13:19, 22). Pencil and watercolor on
collection of the late Stanley I. Batkin. Unexamined out of frame. 3.5 paper. With notations and corrections by the artist in pencil, along
x 3.5 inches to mat. with his stamp. From the collection of the late Stanley I. Batkin.
Unexamined out of frame. 9 x 8.5 inches to mat.
Jerusalem, 1950. $800-1200
❧ PROVENANCE: From the collection of the late Stanley I. Batkin. Jerusalem, c. 1940. $1200-1800
❧ PROVENANCE: From the collection of the late Stanley I. Batkin.
EXHIBITED: Yeshiva University Museum, New York, 1982-84. Purchased from Swann Galleries New York, June 25th 1989, lot 472.

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Lot 21 21 LIEBERMAN, HARRY. “It Is Written Up Above.” Acrylic on canvas.
Signed by the artist lower left. Verso with narrative of the painting
in English and Yiddish. Framed. 30 x 24 inches.
New York, 1972. $1200-1800
❧ Polish-born Harry Lieberman’s career as a most original
artist blossomed just as soon as he first picked up a paint-
brush, aged 80, while resident in a senior retirement
center. Implementing a fanciful, primitive technique of two-
dimensional planes and electrifying colors, he utilized Judaism
as his common subject matter.
In the present painting, Lieberman depicts in great detail
the story of a Torah-scholar who purchased from the Leipzig
Fair a bolt of expensive fabric much to his wife’s chagrin. The
husband counters that she not be concerned as ultimately all is
in God’s hands. Lo and behold, the wealthy provincial governor
subsequently purchased the fabric from the rabbi to his profit,
who in turn exclaims that one’s destiny is “Written Up Above”
and thus one need never worry.
PROVENANCE: Purchased directly from the artist, early 1970’s.

22 (AMERICAN-JUDAICA) Lithograph. Displaying Statue of Liberty in
harbor and at front, female flag-bearers striding toward each other,
their flags symbolizing the mutual high regard between those people
represented by the two totemic flags: The Jewish people and the
American people. Some wear. 20 x 14.5 inches. Unexamined out of
frame.
Early 20th-century. $600-900

Lot 22
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23 MANE KATZ Country Landscape. Gouache on
paper. Signed by the artist and dated “46” in
pencil lower right. Unexamined out of frame. 17.75
x 21 inches to frame.
1946. $4000-6000
❧ Kremenchug-born Emmanuel Mane-
Katz (1894-1962), studied in Vilna and Kiev
before moving to Paris in 1913 to paint at the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1928, he made his
maiden voyage to British Mandate Palestine
and subsequently visited the Land of Israel
annually from his home in France. Strongly
affiliated with the Ecole de Paris, Mane-Katz
was well known for his depictions of the
“shtetl” world. Following his death the artist
left his artworks to the city of Haifa where
the Mane Katz Museum was established.

Lot 23

24 KUNSTADT, MEIR. Large watercolor and ink depicting members of the celebrated Sofer Family of rabbinic leaders: R. Akiva Eger, R. Moses Sofer,
R. Abraham S. B. Sofer and R. Simcha Bunim Sofer. Assembled here as stand-ins for the Rabbis of Bnei Braq of Passover Hagadah fame. 21 x 34
inches. Not examined out of frame. cf. Kunstadt’s Hagadah. Berlin 1922. (Yudlov 2850).
1914. $2500- 3000

Lot 24

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25 ADLER, JANKEL Whimsical Portrait. Gouache on card. Signed
lower left and dated “39” lower right. Lightly foxed, edges chipped.
13 x 9.75 inches.
(France), 1939. $1000- 1500
❧ Born in Lodz, expressionist painter Jankel Adler (1895-1949)
moved to Germany where he studied with Paul Klee, along
with Picasso and Leger. Hitler’s regime displayed Adler’s art at
the Entartete Kunst exhibition - an example of “degenerate
art” which caused him to flee and take refuge in Paris. He
volunteered for the Free Polish Forces during WWII, later living
in Scotland, the only one among his nine Polish-Jewish siblings
to have survived the war.

Lot 25

26 HIRSZENBERG, SAMUEL Female Peasant. Lithograph. Signed and
dated by the artist in pencil lower right. Framed. 10.5 x 14 inches.
1907. $400-600

Lot 26
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Lot 28

Lot 27 Lot 28
27 STRUCK, HERMANN. “Palestinian Jew.” Watercolor. Signed, dated by artist lower left. Not

examined out of frame. 16 x 10.5 inches to mat.
Haifa, 1927. $2000-3000

❧ An unusually large sized portrait, executed in a media, watercolor, that Struck
infrequently employed.
28 STRUCK, HERMANN. Portraits of religious bearded men. Group of four etchings. Each
signed in pencil by Struck. Three with limitations noted. Image sizes: 6.25 x 7.25 inches and
smaller.

$500-700

Lot 28 Lot 28

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Lot 168
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— Printed Books —

Lot 29
29 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Castillo, Martin Del. Arte Hebraispano. Dikduk Lashon Hakodesh Belshon Sepharadith. Grammatica de la Lengua

Santa. FIRST EDITION. Text in Hebrew and Spanish. Hebrew words are pointed and followed by Spanish transliterations. Woodcut initials, head-
and tail-pieces. pp. (24), 336. Ex-library, lower blank margin of title frayed, worn in places. Contemporary limp vellum, stained. 8vo. Palau 481466.

Lyons, Florian Anisson, 1676. $1500-2500
❧ FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST HEBREW GRAMMAR PRINTED FOR THE NEW WORLD.

No doubt a Marrano, Martin del Castillo was born in Burgos and studied Hebrew under the converso Rabbi Moyses
(D. Francisco del Hoyo) while guardian of the Franciscan convent in Mexico City.

Although approved in 1656, the work was not printed until twenty years later due to the lack of printing facilities in Mexico that could
accommodate a work with Hebrew type; thus Castillo had the book produced in Europe. The author remarks, “The distance between
Mexico in the New World, and Lyons in the Old World, should excuse any writer from blame in that several misprints have occurred.”

“The book is so rare that the author’s name… is given in Kayserling’s bibliography as Martyr del Castillo with a remark that it is
the pseudonym of a Spanish Jew. Neither he nor Steinschneider gave the title of the book correctly.” See Alexander Marx, (ed. M.
Schmelzer), Bibliographical Studies and Notes on Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America. (1977) p. 171.

23

30 (A MERICA N JUDA ICA). Washington, George. A
Collection of the Speeches of the President of the United
States... Addresses to the President, with His Answers.
FIRST EDITION. pp. 282, (1), (1 blank). Foxed. Contemporary blind-
tooled calf, scuffed, rebacked. 8vo. Singerman 102.

Boston, Manning and Loring, 1796. $4000-6000

❧ FIRST OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT RELATING TO AMERICAN JEWS.

Among the contents of this anthology of
George Washington’s speeches and letters is the
correspondence exchanged between him and
the Jewish communities of America following his
inauguration. The volume was “published according
to an act of Congress” and thus, is the earliest official
publication of the United States government that
relates to Jews.
Characteristically, American Jews chose not to
unite and dispatch one letter to congratulate
Washington upon his inauguration. The
congregation in Savannah sent its own letter, and the
communities of Philadelphia, New York, Charleston
and Richmond sent one jointly. In response to the
good wishes expressed in the latter letter, Washington
reciprocated: “May the same temporal and eternal
blessings which you implore for me, rest upon your
Congregations.”
The Jews of Newport declined to sign the
letters sent by the other congregations. This may
have been because the citizenry of Rhode Island
was divided as to whether or not to join the new
Union and the state’s Jews may have been hesitant
to make a public statement on the matter by writing
to the newly elected President. Nonetheless, when
Washington visited Newport in 1790, Moses Seixas,
the warden of the congregation, addressed him on
its behalf. Washington famously replied: “For happily
the government of the United States, which gives to
bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,
requires only that they who live under its protection
should demean themselves as good citizens in giving
it on all occasions their effectual support… May the
children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this
land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the
other inhabitants.”
This volume, “Collection of the Speeches,”
Lot 30 contains the correspondence exchanged between
President Washington and the Jewish community
of Newport and the communities of Philadelphia,
Charleston, New York and Richmond. (It also contains a second letter penned by Moses Seixas, this one in his capacity as the master of a
local Masonic Lodge).
During the struggle for the passage of the Maryland Jew Bill (to eliminate Jewish disabilities in the state) at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, one supporter, Col. William G.D. Worthington, delivered an address before the State Legislature and read the entire correspondence
between the Jews of Newport and Washington. The letters continued to be cited by Jews and their advocates throughout the 19th and early
20th centuries to demonstrate that the founding father had fully sanctioned their inclusion into the American nation.

24

Lot 31

31 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Seder HaTephiloth - The Form of Daily Prayers. According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews.

FIRST EDITION. Hebrew and English on facing pages. Translated by the printer, Solomon Henry Jackson. Edited by E.S. Lazarus (uncle to Emma
Lazarus). pp. (7), ff. 2-234; with a further 11 pages of notes at end. Browned throughout and stained in places, few pen markings, opening leaves laid down,
repaired worming in places, tears along final leaves with some loss of text. Modern morocco. 4to. Singerman 436; Rosenbach 284; Vinograd, New York 6.

New York, Solomon Henry Jackson, 1826. $6000-9000
❧ THE FIRST HEBREW PRAYER-BOOK PRINTED IN AMERICA.

Solomon Henry Jackson, the first Jewish printer in New York, possessed both English and Hebrew type fonts and thus was the first to
print bilingual Hebrew matter in America. Undoubtedly, his most important work was this prayer-book, the crown jewel of early American
Hebrew printing.

Jackson (d. 1847) was active in several New York congregations and a supporter of the Chevrath Chinuch Ne’arim Jewish Educational
Society. For more concerning his life, see A.J. Karp, Beginnings: Early American Judaica (1975) p. 38-41.

25

32 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Ben Sirah. Volksbuch über
Moral und Sittenlehre - Sepher Chochmath Yehoshua
ben Sirah. Hebrew (by Yehudah Leib Ben Ze’ev) and
German (by Isaac Mayer) on facing pages. 1-116, 122; 137
(of 142) leaves, lacking three leaves, (= pp. 137-141); divisional
titles for 2nd, 3rd parts; a separate divisional title for parts 4
and 5 [mis]bound at front. Some soiling and staining, losses
to corners expertly repaired, ex-library. Modern gilt ruled red
morocco; gilt dentelles; title and imprint gilt-stamped on spine.
Housed in modern buckram clamshell case. 12mo. Singerman
1110; Goldman 1014.

New York, Henry Frank, 1850. $3000-5000

❧ THE FIRST NON-LITURGICAL, NON-BIBLICAL HEBREW

BOOK PRINTED IN AMERICA.

Ben Sira is a collection of proverbs and teachings,
written in poetic form, within the well-known and
widespread ancient Near Eastern tradition of wisdom
literature. Its closest analogue within the biblical
canon is the book of Proverbs and remained a
standard text for Jews during the late antique and
medieval periods. Ben Sira is also well known to
the rabbinic tradition, being cited in the Talmud
and related literature on about a dozen occasions.
Notwithstanding these testimonies to the use of Ben
Lot 32 Sira, the Hebrew original was eventually lost, because
Ben Sirah was not canonized in the Jewish tradition.
This volume contains Yehudah Leib Ben Ze’ev’s Hebrew translation of Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira) together with Isaac Mayer’s German version.
Ben-Ze’ev (1764-1811) was the first Jewish scholar to apply Western research methods to the study of Hebrew (see Waxman, History of Jewish
Literature, Vol. III p. 127).

PRIOR TO THIS BEN SIRA, THE ONLY EARLIER NON-LITURGICAL, NON-BIBLICAL HEBREW BOOK PRINTED IN AMERICA, WAS PUBLISHED BY MISSIONARIES,

AND NOT A JEWISH PUBLICATION.

33 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Tephilah Mikol HaShanah Minchah Ketanah LeHolchei Derech Ule’Ovrei Yamim LehaNos’im LiMedinath
Amerika Hash[em] Y[ishmerem] [prayers for the entire year] pp. 400. Signature of Ludwig Neumann, touch worn. Contemporary boards, worn,
especially spine. 24mo. Vinograd, Fürth 955; Mehlman 217
Fürth, J. Sommer, 1860. $600-900
❧ A miniature-sized prayer-book produced specifically for the benefit of migrant Jews, embarking upon the long journey from Europe
to America (as stated on the title-page).

34 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Bill of Exchange number 93. Numerous signatures, ink-stamps, seals and endorsements. 1 leaf. 5 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches.
Curaçao, Ministerie van Kolonien, 18 August 1863. $2000-3000

❧ The Island of Curaçao was home to a Jewish community that at its peak numbered over 2,000. When, in 1863, slavery was abolished in
the Dutch colonies in the Americas, all former slave owners received compensation of 200 guilders from the Dutch government for each
slave they freed. The present bill of exchange, numbered 93, was issued in favor of Mordechay Henriquez in the amount of 1400 guilders,

in exchange for the manumission
of slaves. The document is signed by
the Governor of Curaçao, J. D. Crol,
and bears numerous manuscript
endorsements, seals, and ink-stamps
of a variety of banking establishments
(including the House of Rothschild),
tracing its progress as it wended its
way back to Amsterdam, where it was
redeemed on November 23rd, 1863.

See I.S. and S.A. Emmanuel, History
of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles
(1970) pp. 342, 364, 450, 803, 825.

Lot 34
26

35 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Leeser, Isaac. Discourses on the Jewish
Religion. Ten volumes. English interspersed with Hebrew. Original
boards, four volumes in contemporary morocco-backed marbled boards, few covers
loose. 8vo. Singerman 1956.

Philadelphia, Sherman & Co., 1866-67. $10,000-15,000

❧ COLLECTED SERMONS OF THE PIONEER OF AMERICAN ORTHODOXY,

ISAAC LEESER. A RARE COMPLETE SET.

Central to Isaac Leeser’s career as a pioneering American rabbi
was his role as a preacher. He delivered more than two hundred
fifty sermons over his lifetime. Some were published in pamphlet
form or in his monthly publication The Occident. In 1837 he
issued Discourses… First Series, a two-volume anthology of fifty-
two sermons. The first anthology of sermons by an American Jew,
Discourses was eagerly anticipated by communities across the
United States and the Caribbean; it was also reviewed favorably in
Europe. Leeser’s Discourses marked a coming of age of the American
synagogue and rabbinate. From then on, the sermon increasingly
became accepted as a central feature of the synagogue service;
eloquence and oratory skills became important qualifications for any
rabbi seeking an American pulpit.
Leeser issued an additional volume of Discourses… Second Series
in 1841. By this time, however, he had been propelled to national
leadership of the American Jewish community and his many
communal and literary responsibilities no doubt kept him from
publishing further volumes for more than two decades. It was not until
the final year of his life that he began to edit a third series of sermons
for publication. Ignoring the sufferings of illness, he prepared six
volumes before finally succumbing to cancer. A seventh volume was
edited posthumously by his colleague, Judge Mayer Sulzberger. The
seven volumes of the third series were issued in a ten volume edition
(the present lot) that included a reprint of the first two series.
Leeser initially delivered sermons for the edification and inspiration
of his contemporary co-religionists. But his decision to print the ten-
volume anthology was motivated primarily by the recognition that it
would serve as his lasting legacy for the “new generation that has spring Lot 35
up… I hope that the heart of the vast majority of Israelites will still respond to the instructions laid before them now, as was the case three decennia
ago, when I was perhaps the only Jewish public speaker in America” (Vol. I, p. vii). (He was also driven by the fear that “when the grave encloses my
mortal remains, some one might be induced to edit my writings … and to make me say what I would not sanction.”)
Leeser was interested in leaving American Jews with a “religious legacy” in the form of his Discourses. In a literary review in the Occident
(Vol. XXVI, pp. 237-8), Sulzberger highlighted the larger implications of the publication of the monumental work: “Irrespective of the
merits, which the most casual reader will recognize, the book contains much historical information, respecting American Jews; and indeed
will be one of the main sources for a history of Judaism in our country… Every Jew who is interested in the events that have befallen his
co-religionists here, during the last forty years… will be glad to possess the work.”
On Leeser as a preacher and his Discourses, see Lance Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism, pp. 66, 60-67, 77,
87-88, 120-121, 241.

36 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). (Newspaper). The New York Times. Contains on p. 4: “General Grant and the Jews” ff.8. Lightly browned, split at joint,
a few minor marginal tears. Broadsheet.
New York, January 18th, 1863. $1200-1800
❧ On December 11th, 1862, in what has come to be regarded as perhaps the most blatant anti-Semitic action of 19th-century America,
General Ulysses S. Grant issued Order No. 11 expelling all Jews from the administrative area of Tennessee, an area which included the
states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. Grant’s Order was in response to allegations that Jews were the main black-market traders
in Southern cotton. Jews were given only 24 hours to leave their homes as a result of the Order. Efforts to overturn Grant’s order began
immediately, with both Jews and non-Jews appealing to President Abraham Lincoln, urging that Grant’s decree be rescinded. Public
rallies protesting the expulsion were held in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Louisville. The order was only in effect for a little over two weeks
before it was rescinded by Lincoln. Nevertheless, public discussion of this affair continued unabated for quite some time.
This editorial, strongly supporting the Jews and excoriating Grant, appeared in The New York Times on January 18th, 1863. The Times
attacked the order first for its “atrocious disregard” for the rules of English grammar and only then proclaimed that “All swindlers are not
Jews. All Jews are not swindlers,” before proceeding to declare that the war had brought out in many a gentile “degrees of rascality… that
might put the most accomplished Shylocks to the blush.” Finally, on a practical note, the newspaper pointed out that Grant’s order, could
have chilled relationships with certain powerful European Jews, mentioning the Rothschilds and their financial dynasty by name.
See J. D. Sarna, When General Grant Expelled the Jews (2012) p. 24.

27





Lot 42 42 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Historical Souvenir Journal. Yeshiva College
Building Fund. Madison Square Garden, May 23rd, 1926. Profusely
Lot 45 illustrated with portraits of rabbis and leading officers of Yeshiva University.
30 With architectural drawings depicting prototypes of the intended Yeshiva
University campus (never completed). Articles concerning contemporary
Orthodox Jewry in America. Program includes Cantor Yosele Rosenblatt
and opera singers. Sponsors ads at rear. pp. (92). Original pictorial wrappers,
edges chipped. 4to.
(New York, 1926.) $600-900
❧ Seeking funds to inaugurate Yeshiva University’s new and ornate
Moorish Revival structure. Marking the move uptown from the
impoverished, overcrowded, immigrant neighborhood of the Lower
East Side to the then bucolic location of Washington Heights.
RARE. The OCLC records only one single copy, located in Harvard
University.

43 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). “To All Consumers and Retail Butchers of
Brownsville & East New York… Protest Against the High Cost of Meat by
Coming to our Demonstration.” Printed broadside. Text in English and
Yiddish. 12 x 9 inches.
Brooklyn, New York , (1935). $400-600
❧ The City Action Committee Against the High Cost of Living, a
group of New York City female homemakers led by Clara Lemlich
Shavelson (1886-1982), organized a boycott demanding a reduction
in the price of kosher meat.

44 ABOAB, ISAAC. Almenara de la Luz (Menorath HaMe’or). Translated
from Hebrew into Spanish by Jacob Hagiz. FIRST SPANISH EDITION. Printed in
two columns within linear borders. pp. (6), 270 (mispaginated: pp. 301-04, i.e.
251-54). Ex-library, title-page laid down with lower portion supplied in manuscript,
repairs on pp. 265-66, final two leaves with outer column lost. Contemporary boards,
rebacked. Folio. Kayserling, pp. 3 and 51.
Livorno, 1656. $800-1200
❧ “The Almenara de la Luz was produced in a large, handsome…
format, intended as… adornment for the libraries of prosperous
ex-Marranos” (E. Carlebach). The translator, Jacob Hagiz (1620-74),
reached out to Marranos returning to the tradition of the Jewish People.
If in other halachic works, Hagiz adopted a rather harsh stance to
those who had once converted to Christianity, in this work he is all for
reconciliation. See E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990) pp. 22-4.

45 ABOAB, SAMUEL. Devar Shmuel [responsa]. With supplement (often
lacking): Zichron LeB’nei Yisrael [concerning the pseudo-messiah Shabthai
Tzvi]. FIRST EDITION. Title within a woodcut architectural border. ff. (6), 104.
Signature of previous owner on title (Shimon Mannheim). Contemporary boards, covers
loose, lacking spine. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Venice 1533.
Venice, Vendramin, 1702. $500-700
❧ In the Spring of 1668, shortly after the scandalous conversion to
Islam by Shabthai Tzvi, his “prophet” Nathan of Gaza appeared in
Venice on a clandestine mission heading toward Rome. Nathan was
intercepted and subjected to a tribunal consisting of three judges:
Rabbis Jacob Halevi, Samuel Aboab, and Solomon Chai Saraval. The
cross-examination took place on the night of the 13th of the Omer
1668 at the conclusion of which Nathan was forced to sign a retraction
of his beliefs concerning Sabbatianism. The proceedings, entitled
“Zichron LeB’nei Yisrael,” were then forwarded by the Venetian rabbis
to Jewish communities abroad, in order to discredit the erstwhile
“prophet” who had so ignominiously promoted Shabthai Tzvi
messianism. The historical record of these deliberations are preserved
at the conclusion of Aboab’s responsa here (ff. 95b-97b).

Lot 46 Lot 48 Lot 49

46 ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC. Miphaloth Elo-him [on the question of creation ex-nihilo, miracles and prophecy]. FIRST EDITION. ff. 96. Final few
leaves taped along gutter. Modern calf. 8vo. Vinograd, Venice 771; Habermann, di Gara 137.
Venice, Giovanni di Gara, 1592. $400-600

❧ In this treatise, Don Isaac Abrabanel (1437-1508), former finance minister to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain, Bible
exegete and philosopher, takes up the cudgels with Aristotle’s theory of the eternity of the world, mustering logical proofs to
demonstrate that the world was created in actual time.

47 AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF. & Ahron Eliasberg (Eds.) Das Buch von den Polnischen Juden. FIRST EDITION. Illustrated plates. Original pictorial
boards deigned by Hugo Krayn, light wear, lacking backstrip. 12mo.
Berlin, Jüdischer Verlag, 1916. $200-300

48 (ALEPPO) Laniado, Abraham. Magen Avraham [sermons pertaining to circumcision, marriage, Torah, charity, repentance, etc.]
FIRST EDITION. ff. 180. Some staining, slight marginal worming, few leaves remargined, final leaf of index with some loss. Modern vellum-backed boards. 4to.
Vinograd, Venice 964.
Venice, Daniel Zanetti, 1603. $700-1000
❧ Abraham Laniado was a member of a highly respected family of rabbinic scholars in Aleppo, Syria. In his youth he was sent by his
father Yitzhak Laniado to study in the yeshiva of Joseph Karo in Safed. Upon his return to Aleppo, he married the daughter of his uncle
Samuel Laniado, the author of the famed Kli Yakar commentary to the Prophets. Abraham Laniado traveled to Venice to oversee the
publication of his father-in-law’s works, as well as the present work, his own collection of sermons. See David Sutton, Aleppo: City of
Scholars (2005) p. 247, no. 345 (title-page illustrated).

49 (ALEPPO). Sutton, Moshe. Koheleth Moshe [encyclopedic work on both halachic and aggadic topics]. FIRST EDITION. Includes Piyutim
composed by the author’s grandfather, R. Abraham Sutton (ff. 203-8). With dedication (f. 299b) to Yitzhak Altaras of Marseilles who assisted
in financing the renovation of the city synagogue. ff. (2), 322. Lightly browned, stamp of previous owner on title, tear to opening blank. Contemporary
calf-backed boards, rubbed. 4to. Ya’ari, Aleppo 13; and see D. Sutton, Aleppo: City of Scholars (2005) no. 552.
Aleppo, Eliyahu Hai Sasson, 1873. $500-700

50 ALEXANDER ZISKIND BEN MOSES OF GRODNO Tzava’ah Sedura [ethical will and testament by author of Yesod VeShoresh Ha’Avodah].
With Derech Etz Chaim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramcha’l). ff. 19. Some worming, slight tear and tape repair to title. Unbound. 8vo.

❧ Rare edition. Further details supplied with the lot. Amsterdam [sic. Lemberg?), n.d. $300-500

31

51 (ANGLO JUDAICA). Tovey, D’Blossiers. Anglia Judaica: Or the History
and Antiquities of the Jews in England. FIRST EDITION. Engraved plate.
Wide margined copy. pp. (8), 319. Upper margin of title repaired not affecting
text, otherwise a clean copy. Modern boards. 4to. Roth, Magna Bibliotheca
Anglo-Judaica, p. 28, no. 42.
Oxford, James Fletcher, 1738. $500-700
❧ Anglia Judaica, by the English clergyman D’Blossiers Tovy (1692-
1745), is the first comprehensive history of the Jews of England, with
especially useful information concerning the protracted negotiations
between Menasseh ben Israel and Oliver Cromwell over the proposed
resettlement of the Jews in England - a crucial period in Anglo-Jewish
history. According to Tovey, so great were the hopes the Jews pinned
on Protector Cromwell, that a certain faction among them believed
Cromwell was indeed the Messiah himself (see Tovey, p. 275).

52 (ANGLO JUDAICA). Schiff, David Tevele. Leshon Zahav [novellae on
Talmud, Mishnah, reponsa and Torah commentaries]. FIRST EDITION. Two
parts. E.N. Adler stamp on title-page. ff. (3), 32; (1), 44. Ex-library, some
staining, title laid down, marginal repairs on opening leaves. Modern boards.
Folio. Vinograd, Offenbach 195.
Offenbach, Abraham Spitz, 1823. $400-600
❧ David Tevele Schiff (d. 1792), was Chief Rabbi of London’s
Great Synagogue for 27 years, from 1765 until his death. The
present work was published by the author’s nephew, R. Gabriel
Adler, who added a final section (ff. 35-44) of novellae, entitled
Kanfei Nesharim by various members of the Adler family. Rear
endpaper contains in manuscript a transcription of R. Gabriel
Adler’s tombstone.

53 (ANTISEMITICA). De Wandelende Jood [“The Wandering Jew” -
a board-game]. Single sheet. Text in Dutch and French. Multicolor
illustrations 17.5 x 21 inches.

Lot 52 Metz, Fabriques d’Estampes de Ganzel, & Amsterdam, De Erve Wijsmuller,
c. 1850. $1000-1500

❧ Purporting to be a genteel table-game, players travel the route of the wandering Jew, in 63 spaces, from Jerusalem to Paris.
Throughout, there is an unmistakable mocking inference in its tone toward the Jews.

A variant of the 16th century “Game of the Goose” this Dutch game “De Wandelende Jood,” is based on Eugene Sue’s wildly popular
serially published novel (1844–45). The author
himself, is depicted in the lower left corner.

54 (ANTISEMITICA). Edmond Fleg. Pourquoi Je Suis
Juif. FIRST EDITION. Half-title INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY
FLEG. Uncut copy. pp. 102, (2) Browned. Original printed
wrappers (covered in wax paper), tape repair at spine. 12mo.
Paris, Les Editions de France, 1928. $500-700
❧ Written as an open letter to an unborn
grandson, French-Jewish writer and philosopher
Edmond Flegenheimer, better known as
Edmond Fleg (1874-1963),was bothered by
the extreme anti-Semitism revealed by the
Dreyfus Affair - a scandal he watched unfold,
and later prompted him to write this work. The
conclusion of the present text includes prose
that has now become incorporated into the
Reform liturgy: A list of twelve proclamations
each beginning: “I am a Jew because…” (e.g.: “I
am a Jew because in all places where there are
tears and suffering the Jew weeps.”)

Lot 53
32

55 (ANTISEMITICA). Der Anti-Nazi: Redner und Pressematerial uber die Lot 56
N.S.D.A.P. ff. 115. Loose as issued in original printed cardstock portfolio. 8vo.
Berlin, Deutscher Volksgemeinschafts Dienst, (1930). $400-600
❧ Prepared by Walter Gyssling and issued by the Central Association
of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, this publication sought to
educate Germans of the growing threat of the Nazi Party, serving as
a reference book on all aspects of National Socialist politics, its social
and organizational structures, ideology and agitation methods.

56 (ANTISEMITICA). Kurt Plischke. Der Jude als Rassenschänder [“The
Jew as Miscegenator.”] With notorious and explicit illustrations by “Fips”
(Philipp Rupprecht). pp. 3-117, (3). Lacking title-leaf, but provided here in
facsimile. Original red printed boards, lacking dust-jacket. 8vo.
(Berlin, NS Druck und Verlag, 1934). $1000-1500
❧ Full title: Eine Anklage gegen Juda und eine Mahnung an die
deutschen Frauen und Mädchen [“A Denunciation of Judah and a
Warning to German Women and Girls.”]
Focuses upon the Jew as “race-defiler” and the purported sexual
predator tendencies of all Jewish men toward non-Jewish women.
See K.W. Rendell & S. Heywood, The Power of Anti-Semitism: The
March to the Holocaust (Catalogue of the Museum of World War II),
p. 47.
EXCEPTIONALLY RARE. No copy listed in Worldcat.

57 (ANTISEMITICA). Jean-Paul Sartre. Réflexions sur la Question Juive.
FIRST EDITION. Half-title INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY SARTRE. pp. 198, (2). Touch
foxed, manuscript dedication on half title. Original printed wrappers. 12mo.
Paris, Editions Morihien, 1946. $1000-1500
❧ Jean-Paul Sartre’s lengthy and most important essay concerning
anti-Semitism. Written shortly following the liberation of Paris from
German occupation, 1944.
Noticing that popular public discussion in post-war France failed
to address the tragedy of the return (or not) of French Jews deported
by the Nazis, Sartre was concerned that the French people lacked an
appreciation for what indeed actually happened to the Jews. So he set
about writing this historically placed critique of anti-Semitism, thus
expressing the great French philosopher’s solidarity with the Jews.

58 A ZUL A I, CH A IM JOSEPH DAV ID. (ChID”A). Sha’ar Yoseph
[commentary to Talmudic Tractate Horayoth; final 40 leaves with
responsa]. FIRST EDITION. With dedications in Spanish and Portuguese. With
autograph signatures of prominent Sephardic Rabbis including R. Ya’akov
Ya’avetz (d. 1875, author of Tzur Ya’akov). pp. 16 (mispaginated), ff. 120
(ff. 81-2 reversed as issued), ff. 39 (of 40, lacking f. 39 of index). Slight marginal
worming, some staining. Later boards, worn. Folio. Vinograd, Livorno 72; M.
Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (1959) p. 185, no. 1.
Livorno, Anton Santini, 1756. $400-600
❧ The Chida’s first published work. Although he was 34 when this
work was published it was actually written when the author was just
17 years old. According to Benayahu (p. 186), the Sha’ar Yoseph
was scarce even during the author’s life-time. Both the lengthy
approbation by the Chida’s father, as well as the introduction, contain
valuable biographical details.

Lot 57

33

Lot 59 Lot 60 Lot 61

59 ASCHKENAZI, TZVI HIRSCH. (The Chacham Tzvi). Shailoth U’Teshuvoth [responsa]. FIRST EDITION. A wide margined copy. ff.(1), 127. Some
staining, previous owners’ inscriptions and stamps on title and elsewhere, title remargined. Later calf-backed boards, worn. Sm folio. Vinograd, Amsterdam 956.

Amsterdam, Solomon Proops, 1712. $1500-2000

❧ An important and historically weighty volume of responsa. Includes such unusual issues as to whether a being created via the Sepher
Yetzira (“Golem”) may be counted towards a minyan (responsa no. 93).

The Chacham Tzvi (1660-1718) was the grandfather of Tzvi Hirsch Berlin.

60 BALMES, ABRAHAM DE. Mikneh Avram-Peculium Abrae. FIRST EDITION. Hebrew and Latin on facing pages. ff. (316). Ex-library, touch
dampstained. Later calf-backed boards, rubbed. Thick 4to. Vinograd, Venice 81; Habermann, Bomberg 76; Mehlman 1868.
Venice, Daniel Bomberg, 1523. $1000-1500
❧ Distinguished in many fields, de Balmes served as physician to Cardinal Grimani of Venice and lectured at the University of Padua
where he attained renown as an Aristotelian. Greatly valued by contemporary Christian Hebraists, de Balmes prepared this grammar at
the urging of the printer Daniel Bomberg, with whom a deep friendship was shared. The work appeared in two issues, with and without
a Latin translation. Heinrich Graetz in his Geschichte (vol. IX, 215) has attempted to suggest that the translation was prepared by
Bomberg himself. See D. Amram, the Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1909) pp. 169-7.

61 BARRIOS, MIGUEL (DANIEL LEVI) DE. Flor de Apolo [“Flower of Apollo”: collected poetry]. First Edition, with title-page of second
edition (“Las Poesias Famosas.”) Sumptuous engravings by Peter Clouwet. pp. (24), 256 (lacking pp. 105-106). Browned. Later vellum, lightly stained.
4to.
Antwerp, Geronymo & Juan Bautista Verdussen, 1674. $2000-3000
❧ Miguel de Barrios (1635-1701) was born in Montilla, Spain to Marrano parents. In 1659 he emigrated to Italy, where he publicly
embraced Judaism in Livorno (then a safe haven for Spanish Marranos) and assumed the Jewish name “Daniel Levi de Barrios.” After
a brief stint in Tobago in the West Indies, de Barrios returned to Europe in 1662 and entered military service, becoming a captain in
the Spanish cavalry. After retiring from the military in 1674, he relocated to Amsterdam where he became a leading literary figure
and founding member of Amsterdam’s literary salons: The Academia de los Sitibundos and the Academia de los Floridos. During the
eruption of Messianic fervor surrounding the person of Shabthai Tzvi, de Barrios was a fervent believer.
Kayserling considered Flor de Apolo, Barrios’s earliest published collection of poems, to be his finest. See M. Kayserling, Biblioteca
Española-Portugueza-Judaica, pp. 16-17; see also T. Oelma, Marrano Poets of the Seventeenth Century (1982) pp. 219-91.
(Coincidentally the National Library of Spain’s copy of this work is also incomplete - as the present copy - lacking pp. 105-106).

34

62 BASS, SHABTHAI. Sifthei Yesheinim [bibliography]. ff. 20,
pp. 92, ff. 93-108. * WITH RARE SUPPLEMENT: Tephiloth [prayers].
ff. 24. FIRST EDITION. Title within fine engraved architectural border
Previous owner’s marks, stained in places, last several leaves remargined.
Modern morocco. 4to. Vinograd, Amsterdam 461; Mehlman, 1361;
Fuks, Amsterdam 469.

Amsterdam, David de Castro Tartas and Jacob de Cordova, 1678-80.
$3000-5000

❧ THE FIRST HEBREW BIBLIOGRAPHY. THIS COPY WITH RARE

SUPPLEMENTARY PRAYERS.

The Siddur found at the end of this volume, and which
appears in only a handful of copies, presents a bibliographical
puzzle. It has been postulated by M. M. Zlatkin, that it was
included into the Sifthei Yesheinim in order to increase the
appeal of the work to the non-bibliography minded book-
buyer. However Ch. Liberman in Kiryath Sepher Vol. XXXVIII
p. 276 (= Ohel Rachel Vol. I, pp. 370-1) proves that the Siddur,
printed in 1678, was sold separately. By 1680, when the Sifthei
Yesheinim was ready for publication, Shabbetai Bass had a few
copies of the Siddur left over, which he added to his Sifthei
Yesheinim, first removing the original title page.
In his article published for the Habermann Festschrift
(1984), H.C. Zafren excitedly confides: “I can here report that
the Hebrew Union College Library copy of the Amsterdam
1680 Pentateuch [bound with] the first edition of Bass’s Sifthei
Chachamim, also has a prayer book bound in at the end. In
this case, the prayer book has fourteen leaves” (see The 1678
Siddur and the Sifthei Yesheinim: A Methodological Exercise,
p. 276). After a comprehensive analysis of the typographic
layout, Zafren concludes that the first 14 leaves of the Siddur Lot 62

which contains a colophon on 14b is a complete entity, and that a further ten liturgical leaves were added later. Thus this scarce liturgical
supplement was printed in at least two segments by different printers. THE PRESENT COPY CONTAINS THE COMPLETE PRAYERS IN 24 LEAVES.

63 BEGIN, MENACHEM. (Prime Minister of Israel, 1913-92). Western Union Telegram sent to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein by Begin, conveying warm
wishes for a “Blessed Shana Tova to our master and teacher and his family. May this coming year be one of peace, a year of return to Zion and the
rebuilding of Eretz Israel.” Hebrew in English transliteration. One rectangular page. Framed and finely mounted alongside a photograph of the two men at a
reception held in the rabbi’s home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
(Jerusalem-New York), September 28th, 1981. $3000-5000

❧ This Rosh Hashanah
greeting clearly displays the
great respect Prime Minister
Begin had for R. Moishe
Feinstein, the great Halachic
decisor of his time.

Lot 63 Lot 63
35

Lot 64
64 (BIBLE. Polyglot). Psalterium, Hebreum, Grecum, Arabicum & Chaldeum, cum tribus latinis interpretationibus & glossis. Edited and with

Latin commentary by Agostino Giustiniani. Text printed in eight columns across double-pages in: Hebrew, (literal) Latin translation from
the Hebrew, Latin Vulgate, Greek Septuagint, Arabic, Chaldee or Aramaic Targum, literal Latin translation from the Chaldee. Title within
elaborate woodcut arabesque and floral border. Title printed in red and black. Thirteen floriated initials. Printer’s device “PP” on recto of
final leaf.

THIS COPY ENTIRELY UNCUT AND UNOPENED. ff. 200. Some marginal dampstaining, browned in places, opening leaf and f.10 with repair to lower margin,
few small wormholes on title-page. Later limp vellum, slightly shaken. Folio. Vinograd, Genoa 1; Adams B-1370; Darlow & Moule 1411; D. Amram, The
Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy pp. 225-9.

Genoa, Petrus Paulus Porrus for Nicolo Giustiniani Paulo, 1516. $12,000-18,000

❧ THE FIRST POLYGLOT BIBLE. THE SECOND BOOK PRINTED IN ARABIC. THE ONLY BOOK PRINTED AT GENOA IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY. WITH AN EARLY REFERENCE TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’S DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

The learned Dominican Agostino Giustiniani, Bishop of Nebbio in Corsica, and later Professor of Hebrew at the College de France,
devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages. He spared no expense in the preparation of this first polyglot edition of the Book of
Psalms which was popular with churchmen of the age who sought Christological references in its lyrical, prophetic poetry. He summoned
the Milanese printer Pietro Paulo Porro, a master-printer at Turin, to Genoa, to undertake the printing of this work.

The “Scholia” commentary reveals considerable scholarship. Of particular interest are comments to Psalm 19, verse 4: “Their line has
gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.” On this verse the bishop notes: “In our own times, by his wonderful
daring, Christopher Columbus, the Genoese, has discovered almost another world and a new congregation of Christians. In truth, as
Columbus often maintained, God chose him as the instrument for the fulfillment of this prophecy. Thus I deem it not improper here
to refer to his life…” The lengthy note subsequently contains previously unpublished information on Columbus’s life and second voyage.
Columbus died in 1506, a mere ten years before the publication of the Psalter.

Additional scholarly notes regarding the commentary available upon request.

36

65 (BIBLE. Hebrew). Torath Hamashiach [Matthew]. Printer’s device on title and
last page. Hebrew text with Latin introduction. Lacking appendix (as per the
Darlow & Moule copy). pp. (12), 156. Previous owners’ signatures on title, light wear.
Contemporary calf, broken. 12mo. Darlow & Moule 5095; not in Adams.
Paris, M. Iuuenem, 1551. $300-500

66 (BIBLE. Hebrew). Chamishah Chumshei Torah [-end] Woodcut title within
ornate arch, three divisional titles, initial word of each book within wood-
engraved frame. Outline of the 24-book contents penned in Latin on flyleaf
with grammatical notations on verso. Previous owners’ signatures (including
18th-century members of the Cotton and Foster families). ff. 506, (1). Lightly
foxed, edges of opening two leaves touch frayed, ff. 235-242 with tear, lacking rear blanks.
Later blind-tooled paneled calf, rubbed. Thick 4to. Vinograd, Antwerp 26; Darlow &
Moule 5104.
Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1580-82. $1000-1500
❧ All of Plantin’s Hebrew Bibles “share a characteristic elegance.”
See D.S. Berkowitz, In Remembrance of Creation: Evolution of Art
and Scholarship in the Medieval and Renaissance Bible (1968), no.
170. See also Israel Museum Catalogue, Plantin of Antwerp (1981)
pp. 99-100.

67 (BIBLE. Hebrew). Sepher Tehillim [Psalms]. With translation into Latin
prepared by Santes Pagnino. Hebrew and Latin on facing pages ff. 251.
Stained, opening leaf taped and worn. Later vellum-backed boards, distressed. 12mo.
Vinograd, Basle 260; Prijs 275.
Basle, J. Konig, 1675. $400-600

68 (BIBLE. Hebrew. Biblia Hebraica. Edited and with an introduction in Latin Lot 66
by Daniel Ernst Jablonski. Additional engraved title, woodcut divisonal title
pages. Genesis with manuscript interlinear latin translation in a petite older hand. ff. (32), 178, 508, 9. Lightly browned, small portion of rear blank
torn away. Later mottled calf with clasps and hinges. Thick 4to. Vinograd, Berlin 11; Darlow & Moule 5138.

❧ The First Hebrew Bible Printed in Berlin. Berlin, D. E. Jablonski for J. H. Knebelius, 1699. $600-900

69 (BIBLE). Torah Nevi’im U’kethuvim - Biblia Hebraica. Prepared by E. van der Hooght, (reproducing the Athias-Leusden text of 1666-7) with
Latin introduction and explanatory notes. Engraved additional title. Opening letterpress title in Hebrew and Latin printed in red and black.
Divisional titles within woodcut architectural-form border-pieces. Bound in two volumes. ff. (26), 333. * (1), 352, (24). Previous owner’s signature
on verso of front flyleaf, dated 1837. Few pencil marks and sketches in margin (ff. 300-2). Marbled endpapers. Contemporary calf, raised bands, a.e.g. Thick
8vo. Housed in modern clamshell. Vinograd, Amsterdam 794; Darlow & Moule 5141.
Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1705. $400-600

70 (BINDING). Machzor shel Kol Hashanah [prayers for the entire year]. According to Italian rite. Two volumes. Hagadah portion with
charming illustrations of matzah and marror (Vol. I, p. 146). BINDING: Late 18th-century gilt-ruled full green morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated
spines (darkened), raised bands, covers with inlaid red morocco centerpieces, engraved silver clasps and hinges, gauffered edges. Vol. I: ff. (1), 2-224
(i.e. 283). * Vol. II: ff. (2), 3-322. Lightly worn and stained. Manuscript notations of previous owner in a neat hand (Italian and Hebrew) on front flyleaf of Volume I.
Title page and first leaf of Volume I rehinged, leaf 169 repaired;
leaf 209 of Volume II remargined with loss of a few words. 8vo.
Vinograd, Venice 1988.
Venice, Bragadin, 1772. $1000-1500
❧ The Italian prayer rite is among the few that
retained some significant vestiges of the pre-
Crusader Palestinian rite. It is also characterized by
a deep interest in liturgical poetry and midrashic
compilations. In this rite, “the exegetical and
liturgical interests of the two major centers are…
seen to… come together nicely.” S.C. Reif, Judaism
and Hebrew Prayer (1993) pp. 164-5.

Lot 70

37