Sefer Minhagim, by R. Shimon HaLevi Günzburg. Venice: Zuan (Giovanni) di Gara, 1593. Yiddish with integrated Hebrew. Second edition of the book, and first illustrated edition – containing dozens of fine woodcut illustrations alongside the text. Fine copy.
In the center of the title page appears an illustration of a winged figure holding a shield bearing an image of a jug, flanked by the caption: "Shimon Levi Gunzberg", the author's name.
The Yiddish Minhagim were first printed in Venice, 1589. The first edition was printed without illustrations; in 1593, the present edition was printed along with 32 fine woodcut illustrations throughout the book. These illustrations are original to this edition and were prepared specifically for it (26 different illustrations – six of them appear twice).
The illustrations became an integral part of Sefer Minhagim in the subsequent editions. They became familiar and well-known and were reused many times over the 17th and 18th century in other books too, such as Passover Haggadot, Birkat HaMazon and various other Yiddish books.
These unique illustrations shed light on the customs and ways of life of the Jews of the time, and serve as an important source for scholars; the customs depicted include: a woman lighting a hanging Sabbath lamp (Judenstern), Kiddush Levanah, checking for chametz, baking matzot for Passover, a haircut on Lag BaOmer, receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, recital of Kinot on Tishah B'Av, blowing the shofar in Elul and on Rosh Hashanah, a rabbi's sermon on Shabbat HaGadol and Shabbat Teshuvah, kaparot on the eve of Yom Kippur, dispensing candy to children on Simchat Torah, lighting Chanukah candles, a wedding, a circumcision, a funeral and many more.
Scholars debate whether the illustrations were made by a Jewish or non-Jewish artist. Notably, the illustration of the lighting of Chanukah candles depicts a seven-branched menorah (like the Temple menorah) rather than the eight- or nine-branched menorah used for Chanukah candles, an error that would apparently not be committed by a Jewish artist (see: Wolfthal, pp. 95-96; full citation below).
In addition to the abovementioned original illustrations, the book also contains 12 small illustrations of agricultural work and zodiacs according to the months of the year. These illustrations had already appeared in the Passover Haggadah published in Mantua, 1568.
Most of the book is printed in Yiddish, in the Ashkenazic typeface later known as "Tsene Rene letters", for its repeated use in printings of that book.
The book was printed for the Yiddish-speaking Jews in Europe (the title page mentions Germany, Italy, Poland, Bohemia and Moravia), mainly for the populace who weren't well-versed in Hebrew, and served as a popular guide to the customs applying during the year and over the course of life, in the synagogue and at home. The book was a resounding success: it was printed in some 50 editions over a period of about 200 years (the present edition was also published a mere three years after the first edition).
In addition to the new illustrations printed in the present edition, the author also added new contents that had not appeared in the first edition. The title page reads: "Minhagim – much more beautiful than the first ones were".
The end of leaf 80 contains concluding words from the author, who signs off: "So requests the writer, Shimon Levi Gunzburg".

5, 8-80, [10] leaves. Missing leaves 6-7 (no illustrations were printed on these leaves). Approx. 19 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Open tears to inner margins of title page and other leaves, slightly affecting text and one illustration, repaired with paper. Worming to last leaves. Close trimming, affecting bottom of some of the calendar leaves. Markings and notations within text in several places (marginal inscriptions to several leaves with Latin references to verses quoted in the book). Trimmed signature on margin of p. 8b: "Breina daughter of Shmu---". New leather binding.

[8] leaves at the end of the book, with a 70-year calendar – calendar of Rosh Chodesh and festivals, moladot and tekufot, for the years 1593-1664.
The present copy contains [2] additional leaves at the end of the book, with a poem for a bride by R. Yaakov Ulm. The gathering numbering on these leaves (23) matches the numbering of Sefer HaMinhagim (which ends with gathering 22). Apparently, the poem was also disseminated separately (the Bodleian Library holds the poem as an independent unit, while in the JTS Library in New York the poem is bound at the end of the book).

The present edition is especially rare, with few known extant copies. The copies known to us are: two copies in the Oppenheim collection in the Oxford Bodleian Library, one complete; one copy in the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) Library in New York – missing the first 8 leaves (shown on exhibition; see: Precious Possessions: Treasures from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, 2001, p. 63, no. 44); one copy in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen – missing 20 leaves throughout the book; one copy in the Gross Family Collection in Tel Aviv – missing 22 leaves throughout the book (including first 9 leaves).
Not in NLI.

Literature:
1. Ch. Shmeruk, "Yiddish Presses in Italy", Italia III, 1-2 (1982), pp. 153-156, nos. 19, 20 (Hebrew).
2. Ch. Shmeruk, "The Illustrations of the Yiddish Minhagim, Venice 1593, Reprinted in 17th-Century Prague Books", Studies in Bibliography and Booklore XV (1984), pp. 31-52 (Hebrew).
3. Chava Turniansky, Erika Timm, Claudia Rosenzweig (eds.), Yiddish in Italia. Milan: Associazione italiana Amici dell’Università di Gerusalemme, 2003, p. 83, no. 41.
4. Diane Wolfthal, Picturing Yiddish: Gender, Identity, and Memory in the Illustrated Yiddish Books of Renaissance Italy. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2004, pp. 85-154.
5. Isaac Yudlov, Hebrew Printers' Marks, Jerusalem, 2001, pp. 36-40.

Machzor according to the [Italian] Ashkenazi rite, with the Hadrat Kodesh commentary, Part II, Selichot and prayers for the High Holidays and Tishrei festivals. Venice: Zuan (Giovanni) di Gara for Zuan (Giovanni) Bragadin, [1600].
The volume contains many hundreds of glosses in Italian script, with original commentaries, critiques and discussions on the Hadrat Kodesh commentary, emendations to the prayer and commentary texts, instructions and practices for prayer, amounting to an entire work on the machzor for the High Holidays and Tishrei festivals.
We have identified the author as R. Avraham Segre, Rabbi of Casale Monferrato, a leading Italian rabbi in the 18th century. His teachers, R. Gavriel Pontremoli and R. Yehudah Briel, are mentioned in several places (for example: R. Pontremoli on pp. 13b, 89a, 153a, 220b, and R. Briel on pp. 79a, 130b).
In some places, R. Avraham emends the text of the prayers or piyyutim, sometimes based on an accurate text he possessed and other times by conjecture. For example, he added and deleted words in the prayer for the leader, Hineni HeAni MiMaas (on p. 55a, writing: "I corrected it as you can see, and in my humble opinion it is correct this way"). In several places he uses the term "if I will have the strength", when writing that in his opinion a change or correction should be made.
In many places he critiques or argues with the commentator. Likewise, he adds many of his own commentaries on the prayers and piyyutim. In several places he cites the Arizal and other kabbalistic ideas.
In many places he refers to his novellae which he had written elsewhere (for example, p. 72b: "See my novellae on the Mishnah…"; ibid: "and what I wrote on Ein Yisrael in my commentary"; p. 191a: "as I wrote in my novellae, see there"). In several places he refers to what he wrote "in my responsa", on various topics (on p. 52a he discusses the recitation of Zochrenu LeChaim at length, referring several times to "my responsa"; several handwritten drafts of that responsum, with contents parallel to the present commentary, are extant in the Russian State Library in Moscow, Ms. Guenzburg 528).

R. Avraham Segre, a leading Italian rabbi in the early 18th century, kabbalist, rabbi and posek in Casale Monferrato (sometimes signs his name as "Asi", the initials of his name). A disciple of R. Gavriel Pontremoli and R. Yehudah Briel, he had exchanges with the leading Italian kabbalists of his generation; R. Mordechai Shmuel Ghirondi writes: "R. Avraham Segre was a kabbalist and pious man who held kabbalistic discussions with R. Gur Aryeh Finzi of Mantua, a disciple of R. Moshe Zacuto; R. Binyamin HaKohen of Reggio; and the kabbalist R. Yosef Ergas of Livorno…" (Toldot Gedolei Yisrael, p. 4).

R. Avraham was involved in the Ramchal controversy, when he was asked to examine him in 1730, and he was a fierce opponent of the Sabbatean Nechemiah Hayyun. R. Moshe (Maharam) Chagiz, addressing R. Shimshon Morpurgo in relation to the Ramchal affair, calls R. Avraham Segre "the great rabbi, perfectly virtuous… to whom secrets are revealed".
R. Avraham was a friend, and by some accounts also the teacher, of R. Yitzchak Lampronti. The two studied together under R. Yehudah Briel in Mantua. He is among those who in 1750 gave approbation to R. Lampronti's Pachad Yitzchak, a book which also cites his halachic responsa. Some of his other responsa were printed in contemporary rabbis' books. Many of his works remain in manuscript. The Ashkenazi-rite machzor Shaar Bat Rabim (Part II, Venice, 1712-1715) contains a supplication for plague authored by R. Avraham Segre.
Familial inscription on verso of title page on the passing of "my father and teacher Yosef Baruch Foa", "my mother and teacher Beila MehaKohanim", and "my brother-in-law the official Yehoshua Foa" in 1737, signed by "Avraham Foa". At the top of the title page, signatures (in Latin characters) of "S.D.F.".

315 leaves. Approx. 31 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears and wear to several leaves, some affecting text, some repaired with paper. Some glosses slightly trimmed. Old binding, with leather spine.

Provenance: collection of R. Prof. Elia Samuel Artom

Year-round siddur, according to the Roman rite. Venice: Giovanni Cajon for Pietro and Lorenzo Bragadin, 1616.
Siddur according to the Roman rite, including prayers for weekdays and Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and festivals, Yotzrot, Passover Haggadah, Amidah prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hoshanot and Yotzrot for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.
In the Passover Haggadah, two woodcut illustrations are printed next to the text.

312 leaves. Approx. 16 cm. Most leaves in good condition. Stains, including dampstains to title page and several other leaves. Worming, affecting title frame and text, partially repaired with paper. Small open tear at bottom of title page, slightly affecting text. Ex-libris label. Old binding, with gilt-decorated leather spine. Damage to binding.

Only extant copy. Recorded in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book based on the present copy (listing 000306672 of the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book erroneously records a machzor as a second part of the present siddur; this is in fact a conflation with another two-part edition of a machzor with the same printer and year; the present siddur was printed independently).

Two compositions by Rabbi Jacob Judah Leon "Templo", bound together: "Afbeeldinge van den Tempel Salomonis" and "Afbeeldinge van den Tabernakel", Amsterdam: Pieter Joosten Messchaert, 1669. Dutch.
Two works by Rabbi Jacob Judah Leon: His composition dealing with Solomon’s Temple (intended as an explanatory text to accompany the model he had constructed of the Temple); and a second composition on the subject of the biblical Tabernacle which Moses was commanded by the Almighty to assemble in the desert to provide for the ritual needs of the Children of Israel. Both works provide reconstructive models and describe and discuss the ritual vessels associated with the two structures, and the customary manner in which the vessels were used.
The present edition is exceptionally rare. It was published while R. Leon was still alive; only a handful of copies have survived, and only a minority of these few copies include the engravings. The present copies contain all three engraved plates – hand painted in bold colors and gilt – featuring reconstructions of Solomon’s Temple (an illustration which inspired many later representations of the same structure); the Tabernacle and its vessels; and a map showing the positional arrangement of the members of the Tribes of Israel around the Tabernacle.
The composition dealing with Solomon’s Temple opens with the stamped impression of the Orange-Nassau coat of arms of the Dutch royal family, regarded in Jewish books as an outstanding example of royal coats of arms. Importantly, use of the impressed royal coat of arms was heavily restricted and demanded full authorization of the royal house; it demonstrated that the monarch had given his/her imprimatur and sanction to the work in question.

Rabbi Jacob Judah Leon Templo (1603 – sometime after 1675) was one of the great Jewish scholars of 17th-century Amsterdam. Born in Portugal to a family of Jews expelled from Spain, he studied in Amsterdam under Yitzhak Uziel, rabbi of the Neve Shalom congregation. Leon gained fame on account of his descriptions and reconstructions of the most significant structures and sacred vessels discussed in the Bible – including the Tabernacle in the desert, Solomon’s Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, and more – compiled for the first time ever, on the basis of the academic knowledge available at the time. His pioneering work earned him a great deal of respect. His reputation extended all across Europe, and gained him recognition among rulers and monarchs, including King Charles II of England; William II, Prince of Orange; Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (who commissioned a translation of his works into German for his own benefit); and others. Building on the success of these books, Leon created a visual reconstruction of Solomon’s Temple, complete with the Temple vessels drawn to scale. So renowned was this model in its day that it earned him the nickname "Templo" in contemporary European academic circles.
Rare, few copies in OCLC.

Two works bound together: [2] leaves, 44 pages (pages 26-31 bound out of sequence) + [1] folding engraved plate (structure of the Temple); [4] leaves, 24 pages + [2] double engraved plates. 18 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and blemishes. Minor worming to back pastedown and other endpapers. Old binding with new front flyleaf. Inked stamp and handwritten notation on front pastedown. Wear and abrasion. Inscription on spine.

Exhibition: Only on Paper: Six Centuries of Judaica from the Gross Family Collection, Chicago, Columbia College, 2005.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, item no. NHB.125.

"Letters to the Jews, Inviting them to an Amicable Discussion of the Evidence of Christianity…", by Joseph Priestley. Bound together with "Letters to Dr. Priestley, in Answer to Those he Addressed to the Jews…", by David Levi. New York: J. Harrison for B. Gomez, 1794. English. First American edition.
Two works originally bound together (each with its own separate title page):

· "Letters to the Jews, Inviting them to an Amicable Discussion of the Evidence of Christianity", by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), a renowned English Calvinist theologian, scientist, and natural philosopher.

· "Letters to Dr. Priestley, in Answer to Those he Addressed to the Jews", by the Jewish scholar David Levi (1740-1799). Composition written in defense of the Jewish religion, in response to two of Priestley’s letters.

The two works were published together in 1794, originally in the United States, by Jewish bookseller Benjamin Gomez. The book is one of the earliest Jewish works to be published in the United States of America. At the time of publication, the book stood out as entirely unique insofar as it dealt directly with the challenge of defending the Jewish faith and was both written and published by Jews.

131 pages. 16 cm. Good condition. Stains. Old leather binding, partly detached, unprofessionally restored with needle-and-thread. New endpapers.

Singerman 0080, 0082.