Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
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Displaying 49 - 60 of 314
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $300
Sold for: $1,000
Including buyer's premium
Pirkei Moshe, commentary on Tractate Avot, with Mishnah text, by R. Moshe Almosnino. Thessaloniki: Yosef son of Yitzchak Yaavetz, 1563. Only edition, printed in the author's lifetime.
68, 73-111 leaves. Lacking leaves 69-72. 20.5 cm. Varying condition; title page and first leaves in fair-poor condition, most leaves in fair-good condition. Stains. Very dark and heavy dampstains and traces of former dampness to title page and first leaves. Wear. Significant worming to upper edges of first leaves, slightly affecting text, repaired with tape. Small tears and open tears to margins of title page and several other leaves (with paper repair to verso of title page). Several leaves detached. Bookplates. Old fabric binding, partially detached, with defects (tears to spine).
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower (formerly of the collection of scholar Nehemiah Samuel Libowitz).
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $1,750
Including buyer's premium
Tur Yoreh Deah, with Beit Yosef. Venice: Giovanni Griffio, 1564. Second edition of Beit Yosef, printed in the lifetime of the author R. Yosef Karo.
Ownership inscription on title page, partially deleted with ink.
Glosses, notations and inscriptions within text and on margins.
Censorship expurgations.
[23], 398 leaves. Lacking [8] index leaves at beginning of book. After index appears [1] blank leaf. 34.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including large dampstains. Much worming, affecting text in many places. Tears and open tears, including large open tears around margins of title page, not affecting text, repaired with paper filling. Stamps, partially deleted with dark ink. New binding.
On last leaf, signatures of censors Domenico Gerosolimitano (dated 1598) and
Vincentius de Matelica.
Vincentius de Matelica.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $400
Sold for: $1,063
Including buyer's premium
Neveh Shalom, philosophical work on faith, kabbalah and nature, the virtues of the Torah, prophecy and the sacrifices, by R. Avraham son of R. Yitzchak Shalom [a rabbi of Spain, d. 1492, the year of the expulsion]. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1574. Second edition.
Few handwritten corrections.
[4], 128, 131-193, [1], 193-208, 211-214, [1]; [15] leaves. 20 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Light wear. Marginal tears to several leaves. Worming, slightly affecting text. Bookplate, old leather binding with much wear and defects.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $600
Sold for: $3,250
Including buyer's premium
Beit Elohim, ethics and faith – Shaar HaTefillah, Shaar HaTeshuvah and Shaar HaIkarim, by R. Moshe of Trani – the Mabit, leading sage of Safed. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1576. First edition.
Perek Shirah, with the commentary of the Mabit, is printed at the end of the volume. The conventional opening of Perek Shirah lists the segulot of studying it: "Whoever studies Perek Shirah in this world will merit to remember his learning, and he is saved from the evil inclination, evil occurrences, from the pain of the grave and from Gehinnom, and he will merit the days of the Messiah and the World to Come".
Trimmed ownership inscription at top of title page. On margins of first page of Perek Shirah, handwritten draft of a legal document.
120, [6] leaves, 10 leaves. 28.5 cm. Most leaves in good condition. Stains. Tears, including small marginal open tears, repaired with many paper repairs to verso (title page detached). Light worming in several places. Bookplate. Early binding, broken and detached. Fabric spine over damaged spine, torn and damaged.
This edition is the first printing of Perek Shirah (the version printed here varies slightly from the common text today). Some copies of Beit Elohim do not include the ten leaves of Perek Shirah.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $400
Sold for: $750
Including buyer's premium
Responsa Divrei Rivot by R. Yitzchak Adarbi, author of "Divrei Shalom". Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1586. Second edition.
Distinguished copy, belonging to an 18th-century German rabbi. Ownership inscriptions on title page, partially deleted with ink. On p. 47a, another ownership inscription: "G-d granted me this, Aharon son of… R. Leib Teomim Schnapper". An additional inscription of his on the title page deleted with ink.
R. Aharon Teomim Schnapper (d. 1765), Rabbi of Bingen and the Zweibrücken region from 1721. His father was R. Aryeh Yehudah Leib Teomim-Fränkel Schnapper (d. 1717), son of the Bigdei Aharon, who served as Rabbi of Trier and other German cities, and beginning ca. 1687 served thirty years as dayan in Frankfurt in the Beit Din of the Semichat Chachamim.
194, [1], 194-198 leaves. Approx. 29 cm. Fair condition. Many stains, including large dark dampstains and traces of former dampness. Wear. Tears, including small open tears, and small worming, affecting text in a few places. Early paper repairs to margins of title page, covering part of frame. Censorship stamps. Bookplate. Early leather binding, with wear and defects (worming and open tears to binding and spine).
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $250
Sold for: $350
Including buyer's premium
Divrei Shalom, sermons by R. Yitzchak Adarbi, author of Responsa Divrei Rivot. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1586. Second edition.
Title page lacking in present copy, with handwritten (Italian script) and photocopy replacements.
2-168 leaves. Lacking title page. 30 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including large dampstains. Tears and open tears, slightly affecting text, partially repaired with paper. Worming, repaired with tape. Bookplate. Early leather binding, with laces for fastening (new). Heavy wear, worming and defects to binding.
On last leaf, signature of censor Camillo Jaghel, dated 1619.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $500
Sold for: $2,000
Including buyer's premium
Shalshelet HaKabbalah, Jewish historical chronology from Adam to the author's time, by R. Gedaliah ibn Yachya. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1587. First edition, whose printing began during the lifetime of the author.
Signatures and inscriptions on title page (some deleted); ownership inscriptions on leaves 2-3 in Italian script.
Censorship expurgations in notable places. In several leaves, entire lines are deleted.
121 leaves (lacking last leaf, with end of index). 19 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dark dampstains. Wear. Small marginal tears and open tears to title page and other leaves, slightly affecting text. Bookplate. Worming. Fine old leather binding, with wear, defects and worming.
Inside front board, tag of bookshop of antiquarian J. Kaufmann of Frankfurt.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $1,250
Including buyer's premium
Shalshelet HaKabbalah, Jewish historical chronology from Adam to the author's time, by R. Gedaliah ibn Yachya. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1587. First edition, whose printing began during the lifetime of the author.
Signatures and inscriptions on title page: "Leib Berlin"[?]; "Yitzchak…".
On title of leaf 7, signature: "Leib Berlin" – perhaps R. Aryeh Leib Berlin, Rabbi of Bomberg (1737-1814), renowned Torah scholar in his generation and a master of the entire Talmud, both the Bavli and Yerushalmi, and also an expert in kabbalah. Rabbi of Bamberg, Kassel and the states of Hessen and Westphalia.
Some lengthy handwritten glosses, in early Ashkenazic script (some trimmed).
122 leaves. 18.5 cm. Fair condition, first leaves in fair-poor condition. Stains, including dampstains. Wear. Tears and open tears, especially to title page and first leaves, affecting title frame and text, partially repaired with paper (entire title page coated with transparent tape, and transparent tape repairs covering large parts of first leaves). Close trimming of several leaves, bordering text. New binding.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $500
Sold for: $813
Including buyer's premium
Meametz Koach, 28 sermons for various festivals and occasions, by R. Moshe Almosnino. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1588.
This book was previously printed in Constantinople, 1582; however, few copies of this edition are known to exist and the book was evidently not printed in full. The present edition is effectively the first complete edition of the work.
Brief introduction and postscript by author's son, R. Shimon Almosnino.
The first sermon was delivered in 1568 in a Thessaloniki synagogue, the first Shabbat after his return with the envoy to the Ottoman Sultan that he headed, having received a partial tax exemption for the Jews of Thessaloniki. The sermon describes his journey to Constantinople, where he met the Sultan, after several earlier failed attempts on the part of the Jewish community.
Ownership inscription on title page: "G-d also granted me this. The most recent owner, Shlomo Chazan" – apparently R. Shlomo Chazan, Rabbi of Alexandria (Egypt), author of HaMaalot LiShlomo. Another ownership inscription: "The most recent owner, R. Refael Aharon HaLevi" – apparently the famous philanthropist R. Refael Aharon HaLevi of Damascus.
On title page and p. 174a, ownership inscription: "G-d granted me this book, Yehudah Gonzaga" – R. Yehudah Gonzaga was a rabbi and physician in 18th-century Rome. His work Minchat Yehudah remains in manuscript.
236 leaves. 19.5 cm. Most leaves in good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains (many stains to some leaves). Tears and open tears to title page and other leaves, including tear to center of title page, affecting text on verso, and slightly affecting text of several other leaves. Worming, slightly affecting text. Bookplates. New binding.
On last and penultimate leaves, signatures of c
ensors Domenico Gerosolimitano and Petrus de Trevio (dated 1627), in Latin and Hebrew.
ensors Domenico Gerosolimitano and Petrus de Trevio (dated 1627), in Latin and Hebrew.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $400
Sold for: $1,125
Including buyer's premium
Responsa of the Geonim. Prague: Mordechai son of Gershom HaKohen, 1590. Second edition of the short Teshuvot HaGeonim, based on the Constantinople 1575 edition.
The book contains four hundred brief responsa, beginning with an index. Most questions relate to civil law, while the others relate to marriage law. While this anthology of responsa preserves early Geonic material, most importantly fragments of Sefer HaMaasim Livnei Eretz Yisrael, it also contains many forged responsa (more than a hundred, over a quarter of the responsa in the book) which, rather than Geonic responsa, are adaptations of the Shulchan Aruch or other sources (see at length: S. Emanuel, Teshuvot HaGeonim HaKetzarot, in: Atara L'Haim, Studies… in honor of Professor Haim Zalman Dimitrovsky, Jerusalem 2000, pp. 439-459).
Title page illustrated with various figures of humans, angels and lions, with the printer's device of Mordechai son of Gershon HaKohen in the center, depicting hands offering the priestly blessing (see: Yaari, Diglei HaMadpisim HaIvriyim, no. 38, note on pp. 137-138).
On the verso of the title page is an introduction by the editor R. Shlomo Kabuli, and at the end of the book are concluding words and a poem by R. Menachem Egozi – both reprinted from the Constantinople 1575 edition.
Ownership stamps of R. "Mordechai son of R. Yaakov Friedman in Mezeritch" – R. Mordechai Friedman of Mezeritch, author of Meorer Yeshenim (Warsaw, 1926) and Poteach Devarim (printed with Ohel Moshe, Warsaw 1889).
Many censorship inscriptions on both sides of title page.
[46] leaves. 17.5 cm. Mostly dark paper. Most leaves in good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Small marginal tears and open tears to several leaves, not affecting text, partially repaired with paper. Worming. Close trimming, affecting page headers in several places. Bookplate. Old leather binding. Defects, rubbing marks and heavy wear to binding (open tear to spine).
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $500
Sold for: $1,375
Including buyer's premium
Mifalot Elohim, philosophical treatises on the creation of the world and faith, by R. Yitzchak Abarbanel. Venice: Giovanni di Gara, 1592. First edition.
The book was printed based on two manuscripts, one of which belonged to R. Menachem Azariah (Rama) of Fano, as the title page states. On verso of title page is a preface by the proofreader, R. Yitzchak Gershon.
Signature on title page: "Moshe son of Binyamin Pinto". Signatures and inscriptions of R. "Chaim Yaakov Herman".
Short handwritten corrections to several leaves (Ashkenazic script).
96 leaves. Misfoliation of leaves 77-80. 19.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including many large dampstains. Tears, including tear and minute marginal open tears to title page, not affecting text. Light worming. Bookplate. Old leather binding, with defects.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value
![Olat Tamid, commentary on the Torah by R. Moshe Albelda. Venice: Daniel Zanetti, [1601]. Only edition.
Ownership inscrip](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale105/60.jpg "Olat Tamid – Venice, 1601 – Only Edition")
Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Jan 27, 2026
Opening: $300
Sold for: $1,125
Including buyer's premium
Olat Tamid, commentary on the Torah by R. Moshe Albelda. Venice: Daniel Zanetti, [1601]. Only edition.
Ownership inscription on p. 158b.
231, [4] leaves. 29.5 cm. Varying condition, fair to fair-good. Stains, including dampstains. Light wear. Worming, affecting text, partially repaired with tape. Marginal tears to several leaves. Bookplate. Old fabric binding, with minor defects.
Includes four index leaves at end of book, which are lacking in some copies.
Provenance: Collection of Prof. Jordan S. Penkower.
Category
Early Printed Books – 16th-17th Centuries
Catalogue Value