Printed and hand-made items with "shana tovah" greetings. Palestine and elsewhere, 20th century.
The lot comprises: • Nine uncut sheets of "shana tovah" cards in color, belonging to early Israeli series (some partly dated 570- [194-]).
• Wall calendars with images of Palestine and new year's greetings, some in golden ink (1910s to 1930s).
• Posters with "shana tovah", "happy holidays" and other greetings, some published by the JNF and the Israel Postal Service, by artists such as Otte Wallish, Zvi Narkiss, Miryam Karoly and Zillah Binder.
• A large print by David Tartakover (signed and numbered in pencil).
• A large embroidery work with new year's greetings and motifs – a dove, a shofar and flowers, dated 1942; a sketch for a caricature by Benny Burg (large sheet, depicting David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan and others); two shop signs announcing the sale of "shana tovah" cards; newspapers with front page illustrations marking the new year; a round blue and white woven mat, incorporating the words "shana tovah"; and more.
Some 55 items. Size and condition vary. Several framed items.
Provenance: The Dr. Chaim Grossman Collection.
Dr. Chaim Grossman's Israeliana collection is exceptional in size, quality and variety. Grossman, an educator, historian and folklorist, was a methodical, knowledgeable and meticulous collector, and his deep understanding of Palestinian-Yishuv and Israeli material culture set the ground for a one-of-a-kind collection of mundane and less than mundane objects – from the ephemeral, the negligible, the widely available to the rare and singular.
The "shana tovah" collection left by Grossman – a considerable part of which is offered in the present auction – comprises thousands of postcards, cards, letters and other paper items made and sent year after year in, by and for Jewish communities: in Eastern and Western Europe, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, North Africa, North and South America, as part of the tradition of sending hand-written, hand-drawn or printed new year’s greetings, which originated in German Jewry but with the rise of postcards spread to most communities. The earliest items in the collection date to the 1860s; the latest were made in the late 20th century. It includes both beautifully designed, rare, early and singular postcards and cards, and mass-made, highly popular items sold in large quantities, in varying production quality and in dozens of repeating versions, each according to the technical abilities achieved by the local publication industry.
The collector's devotion to his collection is evident in the sheer number of items, in the wealth of techniques, visuals and themes, and in the thorough, intersectional categorization by period, origin, motif, technique and material. Glitter and relief embossing, scraps, lace and golden ink, lithography and celluloid transparencies, plastic, textile and metal decorations; Yiddish, Hebrew, English, Russian, French, Polish, German greetings; children, angels, families, pets, immigrants, travelers, professionals; portraits and tinted reproductions; Judaism, Zionism, the state, the army; the ritual and the mundane; any new year's greeting, in any form whatsoever, had a place in Grossman's collection and was honored as a historical testimony, as a timeless, invaluable treasure.
