Auction 94 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
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Five-page letter, handwritten and personally signed, by Avshalom Feinberg; the first of a number of love letters sent by Avshalom Feinberg to Rivka Aaronsohn. [Hadera], March 1, 1911. Hebrew.
This letter was written over the course of an entire night, piece by piece, and it is five pages long. The beginning of each new part is marked by a small asterisk. Each part is written at a different time of night, and covers a separate topic.
The first part was written at 9:30 pm:
"You are sitting in the dining room, and under the quiet light of the lamp that brings out the gold in your hair, you are reading something. The two little snakes that squirm down your temple hang quietly and peacefully, your forehead is lowered, and your eyes absorb…".
In the second part, Avshalom describes his own state of being at the time of the writing:
"I. Night. In the room where you slept, you and your sister, the only time you were here. Here I am, more than alone…".
In the third part, Avshalom recalls experiencing something of a nighttime vision:
"Scenes flash before my eyes. I see before my eyes a theater filled to capacity… I already hear the prelude of violins, shhhhh, and there, in just a moment I’ll be seeing the faces of the singers."
The fourth part is the longest and most temperamental part of the letter:
"Behold in my left hand I am caressing my pistol, and had I so desired, within less than a minute I could put a bullet in my temple… and as Lada our female dog would have entered the room and [begun] whining over the blood… once I had begun to lose consciousness, at that very moment Tzila would be sitting in her room, diligently and calmy doing her homework. My friend Jacques would be praying in front of his cross, then lying down to sleep peacefully. Masha would be moving her fingers over the strings of her violin, playing continuously. You would keep reading your book, about some character in a novel."
The final part of the letter was written at 3:00 am:
"Forgive me, my dear Rivka, for all the evil in these pages. For all the ugliness and all the nonsense. It is for this [reason] that ‘wise’ people call me – mad…"
At the end of the letter, Avshalom sends his regards to Rivka’s sister, Sarah Aaronsohn (famous for her heroic role in the Nili underground movement): "When Sarah returns from Haifa, Yes! It wouldn’t hurt you to hug her just a bit more closely to your chest?" And signed: "Avshalom".
Also enclosed, a postal envelope addressed to "The young ladies Sarah and Rivka Aaronsohn, Zikhron Ya’akov"; and on the back, the return address: "A. Feinberg, Hadera".
[5] handwritten pages (two separate sheets, each folded in half). Approx. 22 cm. Good condition. Bluish paper. Minor stains and creases. Fold lines. Minor blemishes to edges and to lengths of fold lines.
Some 380 printed and handwritten items of ephemera; hundreds of publications distributed by Jewish undergrounds and dozens of items of ephemera from British detention camps. Palestine, Africa, and additional locations, 1940s. Hebrew and additional languages.
Unusually large collection including hundreds of broadsides, proclamations, notices, placards, flyers, wall posters, memos, brochures, and pamphlets circulated by the three largest Jewish undergrounds in Palestine – the Haganah, Irgun (Etzel), and Lehi organizations – in the context of the struggle against the British Mandatory authorities; most of the publications bear the emblem of the relevant organization.
· Some 200 items published by the Irgun (Etzel – Irgun Tzva’i Leumi, National Military Organization): Warning broadside issued by the Irgun just prior to the so-called "Night of the Beatings" (1946), whereupon the organization abducted and flogged several British soldiers in an act of vengeance in response to the corporal punishment of their own members at the hands of the British authorities; a notice issued by the "Tribunal of the National Military Organization" regarding the execution of Jewish informants and individuals whose acts were deemed treasonous by the Irgun (1947); call-up order "on the occasion of the admission of the regiments of the Irgun into the ranks of the ‘Jewish Army’ [=IDF]" (June 1948?); and numerous other items.
· Some 60 items published by the Lehi (Lohame Herut Yisrael, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel; a.k.a. "the Stern Gang"): A wide assortment of brochures and leaflets ("Yair, " "Message to Every Loyal Hebrew, " "Words of the Convicted in the Cairo Trial" [of Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim, executed for their part in the assassination of Lord Moyne], "Cornerstones of the Doctrine of Jewish Freedom"; in Hebrew); a paper printed by the Lehi outlining their political platform following the establishment of the State of Israel (July 1948); and numerous other items.
· Some 50 published items issued by the Haganah and the leadership of the Jewish "Yishuv" in Mandatory Palestine – An early (Hebrew) broadside bringing attention to the existence of "a faction of deranged hooligans who call themselves ‘the National Military Organization’" (1939); a series of warning notices bearing photos and identifying details regarding suspicious individuals; and numerous other items.
· Some 45 items of ephemera from the British detention camps of Latrun, Atlit, Gilgil (Kenya), Sembel (Eritrea), and other camps: letters, photographs, issues of newspapers compiled in the camps, and more.
· Some 25 additional items of ephemera, including hand-drawn British military maps along with a sketch outlining attacks conducted by the Etzel; ten documents representing indictments on charges of possession of underground proclamations and broadsides, as well as journalistic photographs and more.
Size and condition vary.
Some 450 pieces of ephemera dating from the period of Israel’s War of Independence. Palestine-Israel, 1947-1949 (some items from later years). Hebrew.
The Collection includes rare and exceptional items of special historical significance:
· Order disbanding the Palmach, November 6, 1948. The last order (no. 30/48) ever to be issued by the Palmach to its combatants, effectively calling for the disbanding of the organization. Signed in print (Hebrew): "Be strong!".
· Ceasefire agreement between the IDF and Etzel (Irgun Zva’i Le’umi, National Military Organization) in the wake of the Altalena Affair ("Arrangement Form"), June 22, 1948: Signed in the margin by Ya’akov Meridor, deputy commander of the Etzel and Dan Even, commander of the Alexandroni Brigade. Mimeographed copy of the original form (the original form has been lost, and only a handful of such mimeographed copies are known to exist).
· List identifying fallen interred in common graves on Mt. Herzl: fallen members of the Lamed-Heh platoon; and soldiers who fell in the battles for Latrun, the battle for Gush Etzion, and the battle for Giv’at HaRadar (Radar Hill). Seven mimeographed printed pages, with one handwritten correction.
· Two booklets, containing the hand-written diary of a Palmach combatant, written over the course of five years (1945-1950). The diary contains various eye witness reports on important events that took place in Palestine: the arrival of six Illegal immigrant ships ("Sefinot Ma'apilim"), the release of persons detained during the British Army's Operation Agatha ("Black Sabbath"), the Sergeants affair, the vote on the UN's partition plan for Palestine on 29 November 1947, and more.
In addition, the collection includes a significant number of important ephemera items:
· Some 130 information sheets issued by fighting units, and booklets for soldiers (“Kol Tzfat”, “Igeret La-Hayal”, "HaLochem”, “BaMivtza”, "Hed HaTikhon”, and others).
· Some 100 documents and forms issued during the course of the war (draft notices, draftees’ identity documents and pocket notebooks, certificates certifying rank, deployment notices, official order papers).
· Some 30 "Shanah Tova" greeting cards from combatants in the War of Independence, most with small pictures of the regiment or corps, or of IDF commanders (including "Shanah Tova" cards bearing emblems of the Israel Navy, the Palmach, "Mechanized Attack Regiment 79"; most sent by mail, indicating the name of the soldier, along with a brief greeting).
· Some 65 letters from soldiers (some with first-hand accounts of various battles).
· Various items, including photographs, diaries, brochures printed in various places, and more.
Size and condition vary.
Some 55 photographs of Palestine/Israel during Israel’s War of independence, 1947-49.
Including: The Flag of Israel shown flying over a watchtower in Jaffa; a young Jewish man pulling the safety pin from a hand grenade in the course of battles on the streets of Tel Aviv; the Israel Air Force’s first cadets; residents of Jerusalem taking shelter behind Montefiore’s Windmill; soldiers engaged in the "Shacharit" prayer behind sandbags in Kfar Etzion; commander of IDF forces in Qalqilya glancing at his watch, waiting to declare a ceasefire on his two-way radio (first suspension of hostilities?); and more.
These photographs were journalistic photos circulated around the world at the time of the war, and the inked stamps of the news agencies active in the country during this period appear on their backs, alongside handwritten instructions to printers and printed notes containing information regarding the relevant photograph (sometimes glued at the edges). One photo bears the certification mark of the Official Censor of the newly formed State of Israel.
A few of the photos bear the inked stamps of the photographers: Ephraim (Ephron) Ilani, Walter Zadek, and Lasar Dunner.
Some 55 photographs, approx. 20X25-17X13 cm. Condition varies, good to good-fair. Stains and blemishes. Several photographs with small holes or small tears (mostly to edges). On the backs of some of the photographs are more recent inked stamps and notations, many of the photos come with the corresponding news bulletin or newspaper clipping attached.
Five 500-Mil bills with consecutive numbers. Anglo-Palestine Bank, [1948]. Pick# 14a.
Five 500-Mil banknotes, numbered A504775-9. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the longest-running sequence of consecutive numbers for 500-Mil banknotes.
Condition: aUNC. Slight creases at centers of banknotes. The notes were neither straightened nor otherwise treated.
"Description de l'Égypte, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française" ["Description of Egypt, or the collection of observations and researches which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French Army"]. Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1821-30. French and additional languages.
Second edition of the monumental work "Description de l'Égypte"; twenty-six volumes of text, along with three large-scale maps of Egypt and the Nile Region, and numerous printed plates with inscriptions, illustrations, diagrams, and more. Volumes of prints not included.
This edition was printed in one thousand copies by the publisher Charles-Louis-Fleury Panckoucke (1780-1844), specially commissioned by the French monarch Charles X. The printing of the second edition began before the completion of the first edition, and both editions were actually completed simultaneously. Once published, the multi-volume book would become the greatest printed work to date. The scope of the text was so voluminous that its authors never managed to complete an index, and thus no such index would ever appear.
The mission was launched on the personal initiative of Napoleon Bonaparte. The staff of the mission had accompanied Napoleon’s army in the course of the French Campaign to Egypt and the Holy Land (1798-1801); the delegation numbered over 150 individuals – researchers, scientists, surveyors, and cartographers – and included many of the towering figures of French academia. Their work opened a new chapter in the annals of the study of Egypt and the Near East.
It took almost twenty years to publish the findings of the mission. The volumes, printed one by one, comprehensively covered the ethnography, fauna, flora, and meteorology of Egypt and its environs, including the Holy Land. The jewel in the crown of the mission’s accomplishments was undoubtedly the discovery of the Rosetta Stone – the stele which provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, thus unlocking a secret that remained unsolved for roughly two thousand years. An additional groundbreaking scholarly achievement was the mission’s successful application of modern surveying techniques to produce the first truly comprehensive mapping of Egypt. The book also included a detailed account of Egypt’s Jewish population; an entire chapter was devoted to Jewish music, including a description of the diacritic cantillation marks or accents (known in Hebrew as "ta’amei hamikra") using musical notes and Hebrew script.
Matching bindings, with leather spines; gilt leaf edges.
26 volumes (incl. all volumes of text, excluding eleven volumes of prints). 20 cm. Varying condition. Stains, creases, and blemishes. Leaf preceding title page of tenth volume missing. Two leaves from first volume appended to beginning of final volume. Several volumes with serious worming. Blemishes and wear to bindings.
A complete listing of the volumes in English will be delivered upon request.