Seder Tefillot, Shevachot VeShirim – order of prayers, praises and poems, "according to the Shingly rite". Amsterdam: Yosef, Yaakov and Avraham son of Shlomo Proops, 1757. First edition.

Some words on title page in red ink.

Siddur according to the rite of the communities of Cochin, India. Cochin Jews traditionally hold Shingly (Cranganore / Kodungallur) to be the first site of Jewish settlement in the region (Kodungallur is a port city 18 km north of Cochin).

Title page specifies the book contents: prayers for Simchat Torah and for the marriage ceremony, for circumcision, for immersion and circumcision of slaves and converts, for Purim, and for Yom Kippur.

After title page, second leaf contains details of location and date of printing and names of printers, in Portuguese, their home in Amsterdam and general information on their press.

The second edition of the present book (with additions and variants) was printed in Amsterdam, 1769 as "Order of Prayers for Simchat Torah".

Cochin, India, was one of the prominent Jewish communities which many of whose members were slaves, maidservants, and ‘freedmen’. As late as the 18th-century, Jews there still customarily purchased slaves, circumcised and immersed them for servitude, and integrated them into family and communal life. In time, many were manumitted by their masters and became full Jews (for reference, see Hebrew description). The present siddur contains documentation of this phenomenon of slaves and freed converts within that community, in the rite for ‘Circumcision of Slaves and Converts’ printed therein.

[2], 78 leaves. 17 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tear affecting text of one leaf, repaired with tape. Old leather binding, with defects (most of spine torn and lacking).

Bookplate of Mozes Heiman Gans.