Auction 92 Part 2 Rare and Important Manuscripts and Items of the Gross Family Collection
Decorated and illustrated parchment plaque for the synagogue, with the text of the Yehi Ratzon for the prayer leader, produced by "the scribe and artist Moshe Aryeh… of Yarmit [Balassagyarmat], presently shochet and bodek in Alt-Ofen [Óbuda; present day: Budapest]", 1804.
Ink and paint on parchment.
The plaque is designed as a wide cartouche; the text of the Yehi Ratzon for the prayer leader is scribed in square script, in brown ink. The text is surrounded by an impressive colored border comprised of four pillar – two on each side. Each pair of pillars is surmounted with a golden crown – the crown of priesthood on the right, and the crown of royalty on the left. The crowns are topped with a third, larger crown – the crown of Torah, with a cloth canopy flowing out from it and surrounding the entire structure.
The text of the prayer is followed by a dedication: "Donated by Leib son of R. Shemaya Spitz and his wife Leah, in honor of G-d and of the synagogue… completed on Rosh Chodesh Nissan 1804". Artist's signature in the margin, in tiny, Rashi script. Two smaller structures appear on both sides, with four verses from Tehillim. Two scrolls appear in the upper corners, each inscribed with the initials of a verse from Tehillim, followed by the verse in full.
Maximum size: 55X35 cm. Good condition. Stains. Creases. Tears and small holes, mainly to edges, repaired in part.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 090.012.012.
Manuscript, Memorbuch (memorial book), Hazkarat Neshamot (yizkor memorial service) for the rabbis of the district of Bamberg who passed away in the 17th century. [District of Bamberg (Bavaria, Germany), ca. 17th/18th century, after 1685].
Square and cursive Ashkenazic script on parchment. The main part of the Memorbuch was presumably written in the late 17th century or in the first half of 18th century. Later, in 1830, it was rebound to be used by the community of Hagenbach (district of Bamberg). The first page (originally blank) contains an inscription in cursive script, handwritten and signed by the cantor and teacher Yaakov Reis, who writes that the book was "produced" (presumably in reference to the rebinding of the book) in Av 1830, and adds historic details about the Hagenbach community: the building of the synagogue in 1727 and the purchase of the cemetery in 1737. Additional prayers in Hebrew and German were added on the front endpaper, in the middle of the manuscript and at the end, in a later hand (ca. 19th century).
Memorbuchs were used in German communities to memorialize the deceased members of the community in the yizkor prayers on Shabbat. They included the text of the prayers recited between the Torah reading and mussaf, with the addition of special lists memorializing the leading German Torah scholars and the many Jews martyred in the numerous massacres the Ashkenazi countries suffered over the generations, as well as lists memorializing the rabbis of the local community.
The present manuscript includes: Yekum Purkan; Mi Sheberach for the congregation; Birkat HaChodesh; prayer for the monarchy (with an empty space for adding the names of the king and of the members of the royal family); Mi Sheberach for those who fast Monday, Thursday, Monday; Av HaRachamim; memorial service for early German and French rabbis; memorial service for rabbis and Torah disseminators of the districts of Bamberg and Schnaittach, until the late 17th century (the last name mentioned was a rabbi of the district who passed away in Tishrei 1685); and a long list of German communities whose Jews were martyred.
At the beginning of the manuscript, inscription dated 1830: "Belongs to the Hagenbach community, produced on Wednesday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul 1830, Yaakov son of R. Avraham Reis, cantor and trustee of Hagenbach. The synagogue in Hagenbach was built and completed in 1727, and the cemetery was purchased in 1737". Additional inscription on the front endpaper: "Belongs to the Hagenbach community", followed by the text of the Yehi Ratzon recited prior to Birkat HaChodesh. On p. [11] in the middle of the volume, an inscription was added (in later script), memorializing a philanthropist from Copenhagen, Denmark, who donated to the synagogue and passed away in Kislev 1865. Two paper leaves were added later at the end of the volume, with the text of the Mi Sheberach for ill people, and blessings in German for King Ludwig I (king of Bavaria in 1825-1848) and his family. The binding is wrapped in paper, with a label stating: "Memorbuch von Hagenbach, angelegt am Erev Rosch Chodesch Elul 1837 vom Vorbeter Jakob Reis" (=Memorial book of Hagenbach, produced on Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul 1837 by the cantor Yaakov Reis). The writer of this label read Reis's inscription at the beginning of the book incorrectly, and it should be read 1830.
The list of German and French Torah scholars includes: R. Shimon son of R. Yitzchak (Rabbenu Shimon HaGadol); the Rash of Sens; Rabbenu Tam, Rashbam and Rivam; the Maharam of Rottenburg; R. Eliezer of Touques, Rabbenu Peretz, Rabbenu Chaim and other Torah scholars; the Maharam Mintz; the Maharil; R. Menachem son of R. Asher; R. Moshe Diedelsheim "rabbi of two states"; R. Zavlin Peretz son of Shimon "rabbi of the district of Bamberg and Schnaittach"; R. Mordechai Lipschitz "rabbi of the district of Bamberg" (d. Tishrei 1686 – see his epitaph in: Eckstein, Geschichte der Juden im ehemaligen Fürstbistum Bamberg, Bamberg 1898, p. 166).
The manuscript then features several memorial pages for the victims of the massacres the various German communities suffered during the Middle Ages, including the names of the victims and in some cases the date of the massacre. Among the communities: Bamberg, Würzburg, Forchheim, Nürnberg, Höchstadt, Niesten, Kitzingen, Weissenburg, Eggolsheim, Hollfeld, Ebermannstadt, Kronach, Burgkunstadt, Pforzheim, Arnstadt, Mergentheim, Bischofsheim (Tauberbischofsheim), Iphofen. This is followed by a list of some 150 European communities where Jews were killed in medieval massacres, without listing the names of the victims. HaGomel blessing and Mi Sheberach for the sick scribed at the end of the manuscript.
Hagenbach is a small village in Upper Franconia (Oberfranken), Bavaria (present day: Germany). There are records of a Jewish community operating there already in the 17th century. Hagenbach was one of the five districts which were included in the district rabbinate of Bamberg. Yaakov Reis served as cantor in Hagenbach, and was a teacher in the first Jewish school which opened in the town in 1827, serving until 1846 (when he relocated to Fürth to direct the Jewish hospital there). In the 20th century, the community dwindled; the last Jewish residents joined the Bamberg community in 1934.
[17] parchment leaves (leaf [3] bound back to front) + [2] paper leaves. 19 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tiny marginal tears. Open tear to final leaf, affecting text. Old binding with leather spine, wrapped in paper (blemishes to binding and paper cover).
Literature: Dr. Magnus (Menachem) Weinberg researched this Memorbuch and its significance. See: Magnus Weinberg, "Das Memorbuch von Hagenbach", JJLG, XVIII 203-216, (1926).
Weinberg dates the Memorbuch 1737, apparently due to misreading the date in Yaakov Reis's inscription. Nevertheless, Weinberg writes that the parchment leaves are from an earlier date, from an older Memorbuch.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, GR.012.016.
L'Ornement Hébraïque, album of lithographs compiled by Vladimir Stassof and David Gunzburg. Berlin: S. Calvary & Co., [1905]; the lithographs were printed in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) by Expédition impérial pour la confection des papiers de l'Etat.
27 loose lithographs, in color and gold, including a title page designed by the artist Ivan Pavlovich Ropett (Petrov). Placed in original folder. With a later edition of the accompanying booklet by David Gunzburg (see below).
The lithographs depict enlarged ornaments from some of the most prominent Jewish manuscripts in the world, held in the imperial library (presently the Russian State Library) in St. Petersburg (the Firkovitch collection). The ornaments were copied from the books themselves, without removing the books from the library, by a team of experts headed by the art critic Vladimir Stassof, one of the greatest art critics in Czarist Russia, who initiated the production of this album.
The ornaments include: • Entire pages from the First Leningrad Pentateuch (Chumash with Masorah and carpet pages, Egypt 929; Ms. II. 17), including an illustration of the Menorah in the inner courtyard of the Tabernacle with the Table of the Showbread, an additional illustration of the Menorah and other Tabernacle vessels, and a page with the names of the patrons of the Chumash (Avraham and Zaliah sons of Maimon). • Ornaments from the Leningrad Codex (the earliest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, Egypt 1008; MS. B. 19a). • And more.
The album was published thanks to the efforts of Vladimir Stassof (1824-1906), who also produced another album of ornaments, in the same format, copied from Slavic manuscripts (published by A. A. Ilin, St. Petersburg, 1887). When compiling the Hebrew album, Stassof approached Baron David Gunzburg (1857-1910), an Orientalist, student of Adolph Neubauer, and one of the only Jews in Czarist Russia bearing a title of nobility, who was entrusted with composing the foreword and commentaries. The preparation of the lithographs began in 1883 and was completed in 1886 – the date appearing on the title page, but the album was only published in 1905, in Berlin, due to delays with the foreword and commentaries.
[27] plates. Approx. 58 cm. Good condition. Minor stains, some minor blemishes (mostly to edges). Placed in original folder, with stains, tears and wear.
Enclosed: L'Ornement Hébreu par Vladimir Stassof et David Gunzburg – foreword and commentaries by David Gunzburg. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1920. French.
13 pages. 34.5 cm. Stains and creases. Strips of paper to margins. Inked stamp on title page. Fine, new binding, with parchment spine and corners and gilt title.
Reference:
• Bezalel Narkiss, Illuminations from Hebrew Bibles of Leningrad (Jerusalem: Bialik institute, 1989).
• Альбом Стасова-Гинцбурга и "мегилэ" Антокольского, by Ольга Васильева (Olga Vasilyeva), in: Studia Orientalia Electronica 99, 2004, pp. 369-383. Russian.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, FAC.1.
"Sichas Chulin, Eine fun di Geshichten", a tale by Moishe Broderzon, illustrated by Eliezer (El) Lissitzky. Moscow: Наше Искусство [Nashe Iskustvo ("Our Art, " first name of the artists' group Шомир ("Shomir")], 1917. First edition; in form of a scroll. Yiddish (with colophon in Russian).
"Sichas Chulin" ("Small Talk" or "The Legend of Prague") was written as a Modernist adaptation of the folk tale "Ma'aseh Yerushalmi" ("A Jerusalem Tale"), a story of the marriage of the Jew R. Yonah to the daughter of Ashmedai (Asmodeus), King of the Demons, with the setting of the story moved to the Jewish Ghetto of Prague. The design of this publication – Lissitzky's first significant work in book design – was inspired by illustrated Jewish scrolls, while at the same time integrating modernist elements. The text was written entirely by a Jewish scribe ("sofer stam"), in square Hebrew letters, and was illustrated throughout (illustrations incorporating human figures, animals, and architectural structures) a format resembling that of Esther scrolls. The title page illustration shows three figures representing the creators of this scroll, namely Lissitzky, Broderzon, and the scribe, and a fourth figure – the main character of the story being lifted upward in the talons of a large bird.
"Sichas Chulin" was printed in a limited edition of 110 copies. Most of the copies were bound as regular books, but a small number (according to a prospectus published by Shomir Press, no more than 20) were put together in the form of scrolls and inserted into wooden cases. Most of the known copies in scroll form were numbered and hand-colored. The present copy is uncolored and unnumbered.
Moishe Broderzon (1890-1956), poet, playwright, and founder of a number of prominent artists' groups in Eastern Europe, including the "Yung-Yiddish" avant-guarde group, the Ararat Theater of Lodz, and the world's first Yiddish marionette theater, "Had Gadya." In 1916, Broderzon was one of the founders of the "Circle for Jewish National Aesthetic" artists' group in Moscow known as "Shomir, " after a legendary worm-like creature capable of breaking apart any material (according to Jewish tradition, this creature was responsible for cutting the precious stones of the priestly breastplate, as well as the building blocks of Jerusalem's Great Temple). The group was headed by the art collector and patron of the arts Yakov Kagan-Shabshai, and among its members were Eliezer (El) Lissitzky, Issachar Ber Ryback, Polia Chentoff (Polina Chentova), and Avrohom Efros. "Sichas Chulin" was the group's first published work. Broderzon's oeuvre includes a host of poems and plays, many of which were dedicated to Jewish topics. Among other works, Broderzon created the libretto for "Dovid un Bas Sheva, " the first Yiddish opera to appear onstage in Poland, as well as the acclaimed epic poem "Yud, " which deals with the impending calamity about to befall European Jewry. Many of Broderzon's books were products of a collaboration with other Jewish artists, including designers, painters, and photographers. These collaborations gave rise to several books illustrated and designed in a host of different styles.
Alongside "Had Gadya" (see following item), "Sichas Chulin" is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's finest examples of illustrated Yiddish books.
[17] pages (title page, fifteen pp. of text and colophon), glued one to the other. Entire scroll mounted onto linen. Height: 21.5 cm. Length (entire scroll): approx. 383 cm. Overall good condition. First leaf (title page) cropped at edge, along border of illustration (with minor damage to illustration). Stains (some dark). Creases. Some minor tears.
Missing original wooden case (substitute wooden case enclosed).
Reference: Alexander Kantsedikas, El Lissitzky: The Jewish Period, 1905 – 1923. London: Unicorn, 2017.
See also:
• Ruth Apter-Gabriel, curator and ed., Tradition and Revolution, The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art, 1912-1928, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987, no. 72.
• Nina Gurianova et al., The Russian Avant-Garde Book, 1910-1934, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002, no. 155.
• Index of Jewish Art, Gross Family Collection, Jerusalem, Centre of Jewish Art, 1985, Part One: Objects, pp. 723-767.
This scroll is documented at the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 248530.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 082.011.001.
"Had Gadya, getseykhent un litografiert Eliezer Lissitzky" [One Little Goat (or: The Only Kid), drawn and lithographed by Eliezer Lissitzky]. Kiev: Kultur Liege (Y. Bentzionovsky lithographic press), 1919. Yiddish and Aramaic.
A complete copy of "Had Gadya, " the most significant and best known of Jewish works by El Lissitzky. 11 color lithographs (title page, and one illustration for each of the ten verses of the liturgical song), and a dedication page, along with the original, three-paneled dust jacket. "Had Gadya" was printed in 75 copies, most of which are believed to have been destroyed or lost during the Stalin era. Of the few that did survive in their entirety, only a handful of copies are known to still have their original paper covers.
El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890-1941), Russian Jewish artist, designer, photographer, educator, typographer, and architect, among the most prominent and influential leaders of the Russian Avant-Garde movement. An architect by training, Lissitzky, along with his mentor and friend Kazimir Malevich, greatly contributed to the formation and development of the Suprematist movement, which advanced a geometric form of abstract art. His was responsible for the design of numerous books and periodicals, as well as exhibitions and propaganda material on behalf of Russia's Communist regime, and he exerted considerable influence on Europe's Bauhaus and Constructivist movements. Early in his career, Lissitzky expressed a keen interest in Jewish culture, and Jewish motifs were integrated into many of his works. In this vein, in 1915-16 he took part in Sh. An-ski's ethnographic expedition into the Pale of Jewish Settlement. With the outbreak of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution, Lissitzky came to be wholeheartedly identified with the Communist cause. In the interest of advancing Jewish culture in Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution, he devoted much of his creative energy, among other things, to designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, and a number of his published children's books were regarded as pioneering masterpieces of graphic design and typography. Nevertheless, several years later he largely abandoned Jewish subject matter and embarked instead on the development of a more abstract and universal artistic language. The resulting style found its keenest expression in a series of abstract, geometric paintings, drawings and prints he created in the years 1919-27, to which he gave the name "Proun."
Lissitzky's illustrations to the piyut "Had Gadya, " sung at the close of the Passover seder ceremony, represent an interesting phase in his artistic journey, in which his work was characterized by a unique combination of his old adherence to traditional Jewish motifs, and the earliest sparks of his new devotion to the abstract style (best exemplified by the Constructivist design of the work's cover). Following the publication of "Had Gadya, " Lissitzky turned away almost entirely from Jewish subjects.
Lissitzky produced the first version of his "Had Gadya" series of illustrations in 1917. The original watercolor drawings are kept in Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery. In 1919 he created a new and somewhat different version, which is today part of the collection of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The present series of color lithographs, printed in Kiev that same year, is based on this latter version.
The "Had Gadya" series includes ten lithographed illustrations – one for each of the ten verses of the song. Each illustration is crowned with an architectural frame containing the Yiddish verse. The opening words of the original Aramaic verse appear in the bottom. Decorative Hebrew letters in the upper corners mark the progression of the pages. These ten lithographs are accompanied by a color lithographed title page, showing a young boy with a baby goat, and a page with a printed dedication, which Lissitzky signed with the Hebrew initials "Aleph Lamed, " and dated February 6, 1919. The dedication reads "Far Polyen" ("To Polyen" – perhaps the Russian Jewish artist Polina Chentova).
The three-paneled dust jacket is printed on both sides. All ten verses of the song are printed on the inside, with the words "das tzigele" (the kid) cascading down the columns of text, on an abstract background composed of geometric forms. The exterior of the jacket bears the title and the emblem of "Kultur Lige."
The "Had Gadya" series of lithographs stimulated extensive commentary in academic articles and in the professional literature (see below). What stands out in this work, among other things, is Lissitzky's use of Communist imagery in an effort to present the Revolution as the dawning of the redemption. Thus, for instance, in the illustration to verse 9 – "And then came the Angel of Death" – the Angel of Death is depicted wearing a Tsarist crown; and in the illustration to verse 10 – "And then came the Holy One, Blessed be He, and slew the Angel of Death" – the angel is depicted spread out on the ground, while above him is a hand grasping a sword, symbolizing the Russian people holding up the sword of the Revolution (the image of an outstretched hand grasping a sword appeared on a Soviet stamp of that time). These lithographs are also an early example of Lissitzky's integration of image and text – a signature feature of his works. Here Lissitzky created a system of color coding: the characters are given colors that correspond to the colors of the words representing them, and when the color of a particular character changes, so does the color of its corresponding word in the text. For instance, in the illustration to verse 7, both the ox and the corresponding Yiddish word "oks" are red, and in the illustration to verse 8 they are both yellow.
"Had Gadya" was published under the auspices of the Kultur Liege organization. Kultur Lige was founded in Kiev shortly after the October Revolution, with the goal of promoting Yiddish literature, theater, and culture. Among its members were the greatest of Jewish artists of the time, including El Lissitzky, Peretz Markish, Sholem Asch, Dovid Hofshteyn, Israel Joshua Singer, Issachar Ber Ryback, Joseph Chaikov, and others. In the years of its existence, Kultur Lige published many of the finest Yiddish works of the twentieth century – children's books, books of poetry, and periodicals – illustrated and designed by some of the most noteworthy Jewish artists, illustrators, and graphic designers of Eastern Europe. "Had Gadya" represents one of the most outstanding works published by Kultur Lige.
[12] loose leaves, 25.5X27.5 cm. Good condition. Marginal stains to title page. Minor marginal stains to several other leaves. Minor blemishes and tears, most professionally repaired. Housed in elegant case, new.
Cover (when opened): approx. 70X29 cm. Fair condition. Minor stains and creases. Tears (including open tears) to edges and to fold lines, repaired.
Rare item. Only few copies offered for sale at auctions over the years.
Reference:
• Arnold J. Band, ed., Had Gadya, The Only Kid, Facsimile of El Lissitzky's Edition of 1919 (with introduction by Nancy Perloff). Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2004.
• Alexander Kantsedikas, El Lissitzky: The Jewish Period, 1905 – 1923. London: Unicorn, 2017.
• Haia Friedberg, Lissitzky's Had Gadia, in: Jewish Art, Vol. 12-13 (1987), pp. 294-303.
• Igor Dukhan, El Lissitzky – Jewish as Universal: From Jewish Style to Pangeometry, in: Ars Judaica, the Bar-Ilan Journal of Jewish Art, Vol. 3 (2007), pp. 53-72.
See also:
• Ruth Apter-Gabriel, curator and ed., Tradition and Revolution, The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art, 1912-1928, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987, no. 90.
• Nina Gurianova et al., The Russian Avant-Garde Book, 1910-1934, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002, no. 231.
The present copy has appeared at a number of different exhibitions, including:
• Genosse.Jude.: Wir wollten nur das Paradies auf Erden (Comrade Jew. We Only Wanted Paradise on Earth), The Jewish Museum, Vienna, 2017. See exhibition catalog, pp. 236-37.
• Kodesh, Omanut, Estetika, The Mané-Katz Museum, Haifa, 2011. See exhibition catalog, p. 10. Hebrew.
• Die verborgene Spur: Jüdische Wege durch die Moderne (The Hidden Trace: Jewish Paths through Modernity), Felix Nussbaum Haus, Osnabrück, Germany, 2008-2009. See exhibition catalog, pp. 116-17.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 110.011.015.
Manuscript, notebook of calligraphy samples including samples of micrography and various texts, produced by school students. [Germany? 1830s]. German in Hebrew characters.
The notebook was handwritten by students of four classes in a modern Jewish school, presumably in Germany. The title on the front board (gilt lettering on a red leather label) reads: "Hebraïsche Probeschriften, I, II, III, IV Klasse" (German). The notebook opens with five meticulously executed full-page micrographies, depicting neoclassical figures, including a micrography forming the figure of the Angel of Death (in its Greek version – Thanatos, wearing a helmet), surrounded by a Hebrew inscription: "Man is destined to die". The following leaves contain sample texts, in both square and cursive script, with fine headings and calligraphic ornaments. Further in the notebook are simpler samples of penmanship – various texts (including passages of folk songs and German poetry), as well as repeated practice letters and words. Each sample is signed by the student, and from the repeated family names one can see that several families must have sent a number of their children to the school. There is no indication of the place where the school operated, yet one of the students, Joseph Kolsky, signed mentioning his hometown – Szamotuły, a town in Greater Poland Voivodeship (western Poland).
The paper is marked with an English watermark – "J Whatman 1832" (different watermark on the endpapers).
[31] leaves. 42 cm. Good condition. Stains. Several minor marginal tears. Blemishes and stains to binding. Open tears to label on front board.
Reference:
Avrin, Leila, Hebrew Calligraphy Model Books. Letter Arts Review, 1998, Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp. 34-41.
Provenance:
1. Christie's Amsterdam, 21 June 1989, lot 51.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, GR.011.005.