Extensive collection of "shana tovah" greeting cards and postcards from Mandatory Palestine/Israel and the world.
The collection comprises thousands of cards, some early, printed in limited editions or by small, long-forgotten publishers, collected carefully over a long period, item by item. Most cards are arranged in albums by theme, usually according to visual categories – blowing the shofar, flowers, Zionist portraits and the IDF; some are classified according to other characteristics – unusual size, published by the JNF, official cards published by kibbutzim and other agricultural settlement in Palestine, share- banknote- and cheque-like cards, and more.
Noteworthy items include hand-illustrated cards by artist Meir Ben Baruch (1920s); dozens of pop-up and moveable cards; greetings cards printed for the Christian audience and converted by overprinted Hebrew greetings; and "shana tovah" greetings printed on items other than paper, some unique – small Torah scroll with a printed mantle, paper napkin printed for Carmel Mizrachi, prayer books with greetings embossed in gold on covers, etc.
Publishers include Levanon, Moscow; B. Barlevi, Tel-Aviv; Eliyahu Brother, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa; Hadar, Jerusalem; Bezalel, Jerusalem; Tzentral, Warsaw; H. Goldberg, Warsaw; and numerous others.
Over 10,000 items. Size and condition vary.
Provenance: The Dr. Haim 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.
