Auction 97 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
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Some 45 orders and documents of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, a British unit stationed in "Ras El Ein" (Rosh HaAyin) military camp during the later period of the British Mandate for Palestine. March-May, 1948 (several earlier documents). English.
The present collection documents the evacuation of British forces from Palestine, which commenced in early 1948 and culminated on May 14, 1948. On this day, as Israeli independence was declared, the British Mandate was formally concluded, the British flag was lowered at the port of Haifa, and the High Commissioner for Palestine, Alan Cunningham, departed from the country. Included are:
· A Handwritten order for the evacuation of Palestine, including a detailed schedule for the day of the evacuation, hour by hour: order of sectors and places to be evacuated, driving speed between sections, locations of roadblocks, code words for the stages of evacuation, and more.
· Draft Conducting Orders – printed communication containing orders for troops' conduct during the evacuation: An officer or senior soldier will be put in charge of every train compartment carrying troops, troops are instructed to carry their arms at all times, to avoid leaving their train compartments, to avoid sleeping near open train windows, and more (the present copy was handed to an officer of the unit's camp, whose handwritten name appears in the margins).
· Some 20 telegraph messages sent to and from Ras El Ein camp a short while before the evacuation: a report on the theft of rifles near the Lydda (Lod) railway junction (April 1948); report on attempts by the "Stern Gang" (Lehi) to raid weapon depots (May 1945); report on a British minefield map, transferred to the Arab Legion (May 1948, map included); report on a school in Jaffa, seized by a group of Jewish militants (May 1948); and more.
· Assortment of hand-written command orders, detailing various assignments and mission to be carried out by British soldiers before the evacuation – including an order issued on April 9, detailing the preparations for the funeral of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, leader of the Palestinian Army of the Holy War, who was killed in the Battle of al-Qastal the day before.
· Five booklets and circulars issued for soldiers and civil servants who completed their duties upon the end of the British Mandate for Palestine, including tables for calculating various grants, details on the rights of discharged men, application forms to continue serving in another country, etc.
· And other additional documents.
Some 45 documents and booklets. Size and condition vary.
Enclosed: "Faugh-a-Ballagh", The Regimental Gazette of The Royal Irish Fusiliers, July 1948 (containing detailed information on the activities of the regiment in Palestine, with many illustrations).
Three original pieces of ephemera from the ceremony marking the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. 4th-5th Iyar / May 13-14, 1948.
The present ephemera items were issued to the journalist Moshe (Ron) Danzigerkron (1904-1985), the first Secretary-General of the Tel Aviv Journalists Association, and one of the participants at the ceremonial gathering for the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence:
1. "Gathering for the Declaration of Independence", official entrance ticket, printed, and filled out in handwriting. Stapled onto the inside is a note designating the seat number (Hebrew): "Row III, Seat 6, Middle".
[4] pages (ticket folded in half), approx. 14 cm. Minor blemishes. Small strips missing in two bottom corners.
2. "Gathering for the Declaration of Independence", official invitation. Sent one day prior to the declaration, May 13, 1948, with brief instructions (Hebrew): "Dear Sir, we hereby have the honor of sending you an invitation to the Gathering for the Declaration of Independence which will take place on Friday, 5th Iyar 1948, at 4:00 PM in the museum hall… We request you keep secret the content of this invitation and the time of assembly of the council … Dress: Dark suit".
Enclosed, the original envelope in which the invitation was submitted.
[4] pages (sheet folded in half, printed on front only). 21.5 cm. Fold line. Minor blemishes.
3. "Declaration of the People’s Council, 5th Iyar / May 14, 1948" ("Blue Copy" of the Declaration of Independence): Mimeographed booklet containing the final approved version of the declaration, printed on the morning of May 14, 1948, and distributed to individuals invited to participate in the ceremony.
3 leaves + [1] cover, on blue paper. Approx. 26.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Punch holes in margin. Tears, incl. open tears, to bottom margin, professionally mended. Sheets and cover not bound.
The "Blue Copies" of the Israeli Declaration of Independence
The final version of the Declaration of Independence – which most people naturally associate with the famous signed parchment scroll – was approved and completed close to midnight, May 13-14, 1948. The few hours remaining between the final approval and the declaration itself did not afford sufficient time for preparing the official parchment scroll, and thus, at the appointed time, the parties to the declaration put their signatures to a blank scroll, and the formal text was only added later, above the signatures.
Participants in the ceremony were handed printed booklets, prepared that same morning. Each booklet consisted of a three-page document enclosed within a blue paper cover. These booklets were often termed "the Blue Copies" of the Declaration of Independence; they represented the very first printed versions of the declaration, with the exception, of course, of the truly original copy, which was typewritten using a regular typewriter on a regular sheet of paper the night before the declaration ceremony.
The booklets were mimeographed by Dorit Rosen, the personal secretary of Ze’ev Sherf, secretary of the People’s Council, on mimeograph sheets she purchased at the Lautman stationery shop in Tel Aviv. Some 100 copies of these booklets were put together on the morning of the declaration (actually fewer according to some witnesses, who insist only a few dozen copies were made). They were the earliest printed versions of the declaration. At the official ceremony of the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, David Ben-Gurion publicly read out the declaration from one of these "Blue Copies".
For reference, see Hebrew.
Postcard bearing a message handwritten and personally signed by David Ben-Gurion. Tel Aviv, 6th Iyar [May 15], 1948.
The postcard is addressed to Ben-Gurion's lifelong friend, Shlomo Lavi; written the day following the establishment of the state of Israel:
"When we first arrived here in Palestine, you as Levkovich and I as Grün, holding the banner of labor in our hands, we discovered malaria, swamps, and an Ottoman regime rife with corruption. But now, though the roar of artillery has yet to be silenced, and our sons fight on the front, our heart is joyful at the sight of such great progress" (Hebrew).
The postcard is signed off with something of a personal declaration regarding the establishment of the new state: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome, the very essence of their existence; the State of Israel is born, D. Ben-Gurion".
Shlomo Lavi (Levkovich; 1882-1963), among the foremost visionaries behind the original concept of the kibbutz, close, lifelong friend of David Ben-Gurion, described by Ben-Gurion as "the most extraordinary individual of the Second Aliyah". Like Ben-Gurion, Lavi was born in the Polish town of Plonsk, and was a member of "Ezra", the Zionist youth group founded by Ben-Gurion and Shlomo Zemach. Lavi immigrated to Palestine in 1905, worked as a laborer in the Sejera agricultural colony, at the Atid Company’s vegetable oil factory, and at the Kinneret Farm, and was one of the founding fathers of the HaShomer Jewish civil defense organization. As a member of Kvutzat Kinneret (Kinneret Group), he conceived the idea of "HaKvutzah HaGedolah" (the "Large Group") – a concept that would soon develop into what became known as the "kibbutz". In 1921, he became one of the founders of Kibbutz Ein Harod. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, he served as a member of the First and Second Knesset.
9X14 cm. Postmark and "Doar Ivri" postage stamp. Good condition. Stains, mostly to bottom right corner. Punch hole in left margin, causing slight damage to text.
"Proclamation to All Inhabitants of the State of Israel", poster-form proclamation sheet issued by the Provisional Government of Israel. Tel Aviv: "HaPo’el HaTza’ir" Cooperative Print, 5th Iyar / May 14, 1948. Hebrew.
The first proclamation issued by the newly constituted Provisional Government of Israel. Printed in the national colors of the State of Israel, blue on white, and bearing an official message from the new government to its citizens (Hebrew): "In a period of supreme challenge, in days in which we are under malicious attack by our enemies, the Provisional Government has taken the rule in Israel into its own hands. Our State is the finest expression of a vision [which has persisted] for generations. We are commanded to defend the realization of this vision with all our strength".
Approx. 60X92 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Minor blemishes to edges. Tiny pinholes in corners. Inked stamp and several notations on verso. Mounted with strips of adhesive tape on verso. Framed.
29 issues of newspapers and special publications circulated on the day of the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and two days thereafter. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other places, May 14-16, 1948 (one newspaper issue dated May 13). Hebrew and other languages.
Extraordinarily large collection of issues of newspapers and special publications printed on the day Israel’s Declaration of Independence was delivered (Friday, May 14, 1948), and on the subsequent Saturday night and Sunday (May 15-16).
The headlines are dedicated to the Declaration of Independence, and other newsworthy events, namely those that came in the immediate aftermath of the Declaration: the invasion of Arab armies, the battles of the War of Independence (who's most challenging and troubling phase had broken out then and there), the annulment of the restrictions of the White Paper, recognition granted to the newly established State of Israel by nations of the world, and more. The collection includes issues of the vast majority of the country’s Hebrew daily newspapers of those days, in addition to one-off publications issued specially in honor of the Declaration; issues of newspapers from embattled Jerusalem (then completely under siege); and newspapers printed for the benefit of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust still stranded in Europe.
Included in the collection:
Eleven Hebrew newspaper issues and special publications dated to the day of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 5th Iyar, May 14, 1948: · "Yom HaMedinah", a joint newspaper of all the country's newspapers; · "Hazofeh"; · "Al HaMishmar"; · "Davar"; · "Mivrak"; · "HaBoker"; · "Yedioth Ahronoth"; · "HaYom"; · "Yedioth Yerushalyim"; · "HaMagen"; · "Likutei Devarim LePoalei Yerushalayim".
Five newspaper issues and special publications from Saturday night, May 15, 1948, following the day of Israel’s Declaration of Independence: · "Mivrak"; · "Yedioth Maariv"; · "Iton Haitonayim"; · "Befrayung" (Yiddish); · "Wyzwolenie" (Polish); · "Witamy Pierwszy Zydowski w Niepodleglej Palestynie" (Polish).
Twelve newspaper issues and special publications from Sunday, May 16, 1948, following the day of Israel’s Declaration of Independence: · "Haaretz"; · "HaBoker"; · "Hatzofeh"; · "Al HaMishmar"; · "Yedioth Yerushalayim"; · "Davar"; · "Davar", special issue; · "HaMashkif"; · "Yom Yom"; · "Yedioth Hadashot"; · "Yedioth Hayom" (German); · "New York Post" (English).
Newspaper issue from May 13, 1948, the day preceding the reading of Israel’s Declaration of Independence: "Ashmoreth".
Enclosed: four additional Hebrew publications: · "Iton Rishmi", issue no. 1 (May 14, 1948); · "Iton Rishmi", issue no. 1 (typewritten and stenciled copy) [May 14, 1948?]; · "HaBoker – Children's Magazine" (May 20, 1948); · "Kol Yaldei Alyiat HaNoar" (May-June 1948).
[29] newspaper issues. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.