Auction 95 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Letters and Manuscripts, Engravings and Jewish Ceremonial Objects
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Manuscript, Shirot VeTishbachot (liturgical poems). [Georgia, 20th century.]
Manuscript, in neat square script, vocalized. The title page is decorated in a red frame and with the illustration of a Star of David and harps, in the colors red and blue. Initial words over the length of the manuscript are written in red ink. Between each piyyut are fine separational decorations, some with a Star of David symbol and Tablets of the Law.
The manuscript contains various piyyutim (see Hebrew description).
On the front endpaper are stamps in Georgian and Russian of the Cooperative for the Perfumery Industry in Tbilisi, Georgia, with a Star of David in the middle.
[46] pages. 14.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Small marginal tears and open tears, slightly affecting text of last leaf. Many leaves disconnected. Original binding, partially damaged and disconnected.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, GOR.011.001.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Manuscript, "Majuma" – anthology of amulets, Segulot, zodiacs, Goralot, dream interpretation and more. Yerevan, Armenia, 1912.
Colophons of the scribe, with his name, city and dates of writing appear in several places in the manuscript (p. 1b, 6a, 32a, 47a), as well as his stamps (leaves 31, 44, 85, 109): R. Avraham son of Pinchas in Yerevan.
[126] leaves. 22 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains and dark stains. Heavy wear, damage and tears, mainly to margins, affecting text. New binding.
The only known Jewish manuscript from Yerevan, Armenia.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, AR.011.001.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Manuscript, Segulot, amulets, cures, Goralot and calendrical calculations. [Salmas (Kurdistan), 19th century.]
Oriental script. Kabbalistic diagrams and illustrations.
Contains Segulot and amulets for various matters, Sefer Goralot of Ibn Ezra, Goral of the prophet Daniel, zodiacs, Sefer HaSegulot, and more.
Several colophons and additional inscriptions at the end of the manuscript and elsewhere mention the name of the scribe, "Avraham son of Yitzchak Salmasna", and the years 1868-1896. On p. 8b the name of the city Salmas is mentioned.
Ownership inscriptions of the scribe and his son Mordechai from 1903-1905. Additional ownership inscription on p. 132b.
[147] leaves. 21.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming, slightly affecting text. Tears and open tears, affecting text to last leaf. First leaf is disconnected. Inscriptions. New binding.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, PS.011.009.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Letter to the Mantua community, regarding purchase of lulavim and etrogim for Sukkot for the community, from Bentzion of Norzi. Ferrara, 1580.
Letter sent to the Mantua community leaders. The author writes that he had received a letter from the Mantua community leaders, followed by another one from R. Yehudah Provenzalo, regarding lulavim. He promises to uphold his promise to send lulavim and etrogim to Mantua. The margins of the letter contain the place and date of writing, with his signature.
[1] double leaf (on the exterior – address of recipients in Italian). 31 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folds. Open tears to margins and center of leaf (not affecting text).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Manuscript, "Ketubah for Shavuot". Pesaro, Italy, 1698.
Square Italian script, mostly vowelized. Decorated title on first page with initials of scribe (Moshe Shmuel Macabe Finzi of Recanati). The date on the title page is given as 1661, which is apparently the date a similar Pesaro manuscript was copied, from which the present item was in turn copied. This copy is dated 1698 on verso of title page.
At the end of the manuscript is an illustration of a coat of arms – a cartouche containing a Star of David with the image of a lion and a rooster holding a stalk of wheat, with Biblical verses as captions and initials of the scribe.
The manuscript contains two versions of the Ketubah for Shavuot, the first credited to R. Yisrael Najara and the second unattributed.
The manuscript was rebound with the original cardboard binding, which apparently originally bound this manuscript and an additional one. On the binding are inscriptions from 1669 and 1698, on the purchase of a manuscript (not the present item) and on combining it with the present manuscript.
2-7, [1] leaves. 13.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Much worming, affecting text. New binding, bound with original cardboard binding. Worming and damage to old binding, affecting ownership inscriptions on the binding.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.011.017.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed leaf with a riddle, for the wedding of Yitzchak son of Shabtai Marini with the bride Yehudit daughter of Menachem of Italy, by R. Yeshayahu Bassan. Mantua, [ca. 1724].
At the top of the leaf is an engraving with angels holding a crown, branches and musical instruments, with the (printed) signature of the author.
R. Yeshayahu Bassan (1673-1739), Rabbi in Padua and later in Reggio, close teacher of the Ramchal (R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto).
The groom, R. Yitzchak son of Shabtai Marini, was a close friend of the Ramchal, and was one of the first seven in the Zohar study group founded by the Ramchal. The Ramchal also wrote two poems for his wedding.
[1] leaf. Approx. 46 cm. Fair condition. Stains. Folds. Tears to folds and margins, slightly affecting text. The leaf is mounted on another leaf for reinforcement and preservation.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed leaf with a riddle for the wedding of the groom Yehoshua son of Yitzchak Recanati and the bride Esther Sarah daughter of Refael Recanati, by R. Yisrael Binyamin Bassan. Livorno: Avraham Meldola, 1746.
The poem contains 24 stanzas, with the (printed) signature of the author.
An elaborate Ketubah from the same wedding appears in the Braginsky collection.
R. Yisrael Binyamin Bassan (1701-1790), son of R. Yeshayahu Bassan and friend of the Ramchal. He succeeded his father as Rabbi of Reggio.
[1] leaf. Approx. 54 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Folds. Several tears to folds, affecting text. The leaf is mounted on another leaf to reinforce and repair it.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Two leaves of riddles for a wedding, in large format, printed in Verona.
• Al Tomar Davar SheI Efshar Lishmoa – riddle leaf for a wedding by R. Menachem son of R. Yitzchak Noveira. Verona, 1749.
• Et Sason VeSimchah HaYom HaZeh – riddle leaf for a wedding by R. Menachem son of R. Yitzchak Noveira. [Verona, 18th century].
At the top of each of the leaves is printed a large engraving of a female angel holding a wreath of flowers in one hand and a trumpet in the other. In the center of each leaf is printed an engraving with an illustration of the riddle.
R. Menachem Noveira HaRofe (1737-1777), rabbi in Verona, authored Yemei Temimim and published Pnei Yitzchak by his grandfather R. Chizkiyah Mordechai Bassan. An autograph manuscript with his poems is preserved at the University of Leeds, where the present two poems appear.
[2] leaves. 58 cm and 45 cm. Good condition. Light stains. A few tears. Folds.
The leaves do not appear in the catalog of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed leaf in large format – Mizmor LeTodah, a thanksgiving poem for the recovery of Empress Maria Theresa from her sickness, by R. Menachem Noveira. [Mantua, 18th century].
At the top of the leaf is printed an engraving with two cherubs carrying a crown, trumpets and a cartouche with the letter W inside it.
[1] leaf. 63 cm. Good condition. Folds. A few small marginal tears.
Does not appear in the catalog of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Rabbi of Modena, By Rabbi David Zacuto Modena – Modena, 1811 Manuscript leaf, lament for passing of R. Yishmael HaKohen, Rabbi of Modena, by R. David Zacuto Modena. [Modena, 1810 or 1811].
A poetic lament with ten stanzas, handwritten by R. David Zacuto Modena, with a lengthy introduction at the top of the leaf and the signature of the author at the end of the poem. To the best of our knowledge, this poem has never been published.
R. Yishmael HaKohen, Rabbi of Modena (1724-1810), leading Italian rabbi and prominent posek. In 1782, he succeeded his brother R. David HaKohen as Rabbi of Modena, effectively leading all of Italian Jewry. When the Jewish Sanhedrin was instituted by Napoleon in 1806, he wrote a detailed response to 12 questions asked by Napoleon about the relation between state law and Jewish law, which served as the basis for the rabbis representing Italian regions in the Sanhedrin.
R. David Zacuto Modena (1778-1865), an important Italian rabbi in his times, also served as Rabbi of Modena, succeeding his father R. Mazal Tov Zacuto, in turn the disciple and successor of R. Yishmael HaKohen.
[1] leaf. 27.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains, tears and wear. Folds. Repaired with tape to reverse side of leaf.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Collection of leaves handwritten by R. Shlomo Michael Yonah, Rabbi of Torino – sermons and novellae on the Torah. [Torino, ca. 18th century].
The present lot is comprised of two groups of leaves in the author’s autograph manuscript, with erasures, corrections and additions. In one group appears a draft of a lengthy sermon for Shabbat Bereshit. In this group, there is lesser use of leaves from letters sent to R. Shlomo Michael Yonah, and on some leaves appear the recipient’s address – his name and address in Torino, with remains of postmarks left on them.
The second group, in larger format, contains sermons on the Torah portions of the Book of Bereshit. The present leaves contain sections on Bereshit, Noach, Lech Lecha, Vayera and Chayei Sarah; followed by various selections. The first page contains a title page formula, with the title Divrei Shlomo.
To the best of our knowledge, these novellae have not been printed.
R. Shlomo Michael Yonah, one of the leading Italian Torah scholars in the 18th century. Brother-in-law of R. Yechiel Chaim Troyes, Rabbi of Vercelli. First he lived in Alessandria where he met and developed an ongoing friendship with the Chida on his first mission to Italy. He was subsequently appointed Rabbi of Torino, where he again hosted the Chida.
[5] leaves, 30 cm; [7] leaves, 24 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, tears and wear.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Manuscript, Sefirat HaOmer, with Kabbalistic Kavanot. [Italy, 18th/19th century].
Square Italian script, partially vowelized. Pocket format. At the beginning of the manuscript are prayers, Kavanot and the blessing for counting the Omer, with Lamnatzeach in the shape of a Menorah. A subsequent page is dedicated to each one of the days of the Omer.
Ownership inscription on front endpaper. At the end is a long leaf (folded) with a list of names of men and women, ordered according to the months Tammuz-Av-Elul (perhaps their dates of death). The names are of families from the Piedmont region, most of them from the families Latas and Montel (apparently from Cuneo).
[28] leaves (and more blank leaves) + [1] folded leaf. Thick, high-quality paper. Approx. 10 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears, affecting text with loss, to folded leaf at end. Original leather binding, damaged.
Provenance: Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, IT.011.026.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.