Auction 95 Early Printed Books, Chassidut and Kabbalah, Letters and Manuscripts, Engravings and Jewish Ceremonial Objects
- book (129) Apply book filter
- manuscript (104) Apply manuscript filter
- letter (76) Apply letter filter
- jewri (67) Apply jewri filter
- print (60) Apply print filter
- chassid (54) Apply chassid filter
- chassidut (31) Apply chassidut filter
- centuri (28) Apply centuri filter
- earli (28) Apply earli filter
- th (28) Apply th filter
- copi (26) Apply copi filter
- import (26) Apply import filter
- african (21) Apply african filter
- north (21) Apply north filter
- north-african (21) Apply north-african filter
- northafrican (21) Apply northafrican filter
- russia (20) Apply russia filter
- yemenit (20) Apply yemenit filter
- eretz (18) Apply eretz filter
- israel (18) Apply israel filter
- item (18) Apply item filter
- parchment (18) Apply parchment filter
- prayer (18) Apply prayer filter
- siddurim (18) Apply siddurim filter
- century) (17) Apply century) filter
- dean (16) Apply dean filter
- europ (16) Apply europ filter
- jewish (16) Apply jewish filter
- lithuania (16) Apply lithuania filter
- rabbi (16) Apply rabbi filter
- yeshivah (16) Apply yeshivah filter
- art (15) Apply art filter
- lithograph (15) Apply lithograph filter
- central (14) Apply central filter
- document (14) Apply document filter
- esther (14) Apply esther filter
- germani (14) Apply germani filter
- hungari (14) Apply hungari filter
- hungary, (14) Apply hungary, filter
- im (14) Apply im filter
- manuscripts, (14) Apply manuscripts, filter
- nevi (14) Apply nevi filter
- nevi'im (14) Apply nevi'im filter
- neviim (14) Apply neviim filter
- scroll (14) Apply scroll filter
- (16th (13) Apply (16th filter
- 16 (13) Apply 16 filter
- dedic (12) Apply dedic filter
- gloss (12) Apply gloss filter
- hand (12) Apply hand filter
Chiddushei Rabbenu Chaim HaLevi on the Rambam, by R. Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik, Rabbi of Brisk. Brisk, 1936. First edition.
Famed book of R. Chaim of Brisk, printed by his son, R. Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, some 18 years after the death of the author, who passed away in 1918. This book is R. Chaim's magnum opus, and a promise of its future publication was inscribed on his tombstone. The book was highly praised by R. Yechezkel Abramsky, R. Baruch Ber Leibowitz and others.
[3], 3-112 leaves. 33.5 cm. Good condition. Light stains. Original binding, worn, missing spine (original endpapers disconnected).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Esh Dat, a polemical work against Nechemiah Chiya Hayyun, by R. David Nieto. London: Thomas Ilive, 1715.
A polemic book comprising two dialogues against the Sabbatean movement and against the Sabbatean Nechemiah Hayyun of Amsterdam.
Rabbi David Nieto (1654-1728), scholar of Torah and science. Dayan, orator and doctor in Livorno, and later the first rabbi of the Sephardi community in London. Author of Kuzari Sheni and Mateh Dan. One of the strongest opponents of Sabbateanism.
Nechemiah Chiya Hayyun (1655-ca. 1730), a Sabbatean scholar and kabbalist, probably the most prominent Sabbatean after Sabbatai Zevi's death.
Copy of R. Elisha Pontremoli. Inscription in his handwriting on the title page. Several corrections to one leaf, apparently in his handwriting.
R. Elisha Pontremoli (1779-1852), an Italian Torah scholar, author of many works still in manuscript. He would sign as "small Aleph".
[1], 38 leaves. [Does not include the Spanish translation of the book, Es Dat, ò Fuego Legal, which was printed with it.] Approx. 17 cm. Dark paper. Good-fair condition. Tears, including marginal tears to title page and marginal open tears to several leaves, not affecting text. New binding.
Formerly of the private collection of Dr. Israel Mehlman.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Broadside from the Proops brothers, the printers of Amsterdam, announcing the resolution of the dispute with R. Zalman, the printer of Sulzbach. Amsterdam, Tamuz 1765.
Leaf printed on one side. On the top of the leaf is a letter of the Amsterdam printers with a handwritten signature (apparently of one of the brothers, who also signed for his brother): "Yosef Yaakov and Avraham sons of the late R. Shlomo Proops Katz". After the brothers' letter is printed (in Rashi script) a confirmation by the Amsterdam community trustees, followed by the confirmation by the Amsterdam Beit Din.
The Proops brothers announce that following a compromise and the decision of R. Lipman, son of R. Zalman of Sulzbach, to remunerate them, the printer of Sulzbach has been granted permission to complete his edition of the Talmud, without affecting their right to print their edition.
The Sulzbach edition of the Talmud (1755-1763) was the focus of a dispute between printers which engendered a controversy between rabbis. Shortly after the beginning of printing, the Proops brothers of Amsterdam appealed to the rabbis of Vaad Arba Aratzot with the contention that the printing of the Sulzbach edition infringed their printing rights. The printers in Amsterdam were at the time publishing their own Talmud edition, and had received rabbinic approbations granting them exclusive rights to print the Talmud for a period of twenty-five years. The Vaad Arba Aratzot and other rabbis hastened to ban the Sulzbach Talmud, prohibiting studying from that edition of the Talmud and ruling that the volumes should be burnt (!) or at least buried. The dispute persisted, however, as the rabbis of Fürth, led by R. David Strauss, backed R. Zalman, the printer from Sulzbach. In 1764 R. Zalman announced a reprint of his edition, leading the dispute to erupt once again. The dispute continued for a long while and eventually drew the attention of leading rabbis of that time, such as the Noda BiYehudah who intervened to mediate between the printers.
[1] leaf. 36.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folds.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Collection of books and booklets of Shlomo Yehudah Leib Friedlander, the famous forger of the Talmud Yerushalmi on Seder Kodashim:
• Tosefta, Seder Zera'im and Nashim, with commentary Cheshek Shlomo by Shlomo Leib Friedlander. Two parts: Pressburg, 1889-1890. With title pages in French and preface on the manuscripts forming the basis for the text. First published work of Shlomo Friedlander, already displaying forgery, as the purported manuscripts never existed.
• Kesher Bogdim. Pressburg, 1891. Article against R. Aryeh Schwartz who had criticized his work Cheshek Shlomo on the Tosefta.
• Preface to Tosefta with Cheshek Shlomo. Tyrnau, 1930. Published posthumously by Friedlander's son.
• Talmud Yerushalmi (forged) on Seder Kodashim, with Cheshek Shlomo commentary. Part I: Zevachim and Arachin, Part II: Chulin and Bechorot. Seini, [1906]-1909. Both volumes. Ownership inscription on title page of first volume of "Yisrael Yonatan Yerushalimski" [1860-1917; son of R. Yaakov Moshe Direktor and son-in-law of the Ridvaz, author of a commentary on the Yerushalmi and Rabbi of Slutsk and Safed; father-in-law of R. Yechezkel Abramsky, author of Chazon Yechezkel on the Tosefta].
The lost Talmud Yerushalmi on Seder Kodashim was never printed. In the beginning of the 20th century, a man named Shlomo Friedlander (under a false identity) skillfully copied all the early quotations from the Talmud Yerushalmi and other sources and announced that he had found an ancient manuscript of the lost Talmud Yerushalmi. This forgery misled most rabbis and scholars of the time, while certain others recognized and publicly exposed the forgery. After the forgery was confirmed, most copies were discarded.
5 volumes. Varying size and condition. Overall good-fair to fair condition. Wear and tears. Worn bindings. The books were not thoroughly examined, and are being sold as is.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Noticias reconditas do modo de proceder a Inquisição de Portugal com os seus presos [information on the Portuguese Inquisition's treatment of its prisoners], by António Vieira. Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional, 1821. First Portuguese edition.
Sharp critical report against the Portuguese Inquisition and its manner of persecuting Jewish conversos. The report was made by the Jesuit priest António Vieira (1608-1697), at the request of Pope Clement X.
Vieira, who was himself jailed and tortured by the Inquisition for three years, reports on the unending persecution of the Portuguese Inquisition against the Jewish conversos and their families, who were suspected of disobedience to Christian laws and preservation of Jewish customs. He describes at length the arbitrary procedure of imprisonment and the shameful jail conditions, the seizure of property, the lengthy interrogations and harsh torture, the obtainment of testimony, the evidence and the forced confessions, the sentences, and more. Vieira notes the ethical-religious and economic questions raised by this conduct, and demands an immediate end to the use of these methods. As a result of the report's conclusions, Pope Innocent XI suspended the Inquisition in Portugal for seven years (1674-1681).
The report was distributed for many years only in manuscript, and was not well known to the public. In 1808 the report was published in London in English translation, and in 1821 the report was first published in the original Portuguese in Lisbon, the same year that the Portuguese Inquisition was permanently terminated.
[5], 3-272 pages. 15.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and light damage. Uneven trimming. New binding.
Rare. To the best of our knowledge and research, this has never before been auctioned.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
!["Aviso ao Público", printed broadside. Lisbon: Na officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, [1804]. Portugu](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale95/186.jpg "\"Notice to the Public\" – Jewish Physician José de Castro, Lisbon, 1804")
"Aviso ao Público", printed broadside. Lisbon: Na officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, [1804]. Portuguese.
Public notice by the physician José Joaquim de Castro, descendant of a family of Anusim which held the knowledge of the formula for preparing the medicine "Água de Inglaterra" (= English Water) – the only known treatment for malaria at the time.
The present notice serves as a warning to the public regarding fake and counterfeit products. It includes guidelines for verifying the authenticity of the product, and issues a specific warning directed at counterfeiters who fill empty bottles of the authentic medicine with the counterfeit product. A price list of various products appears in the margins.
"Água de Inglaterra" was the name of a medicine produced from the bark of the Cinchona plant, from which quinine was produced – the only efficient treatment for malaria ath the time. The medicine was developed by Jacob de Castro Sarmento (1690-1762), a Portuguese-Jewish physician who became the first Jewish doctor of medicine in England. The recipe for this medicine was kept secret within his family and passed down through many generations.
Rare. Not listed in the NLI catalog. Only a few copies listed in the OCLC.
Approx. 36X45. Few stains. Minor marginal tears. Blank strip from lower margins (some 5 cm wide, without text) partly missing, without damage to printing.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
![Ha-Lapid, O facho, Orgão da Comunidade Israelita do Porto [periodical of the Jewish community in Porto], edited by Avr](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale95/187_1.jpg "Ha-Lapid – Periodical of the Jewish Community in Portugal – Volume wit")
![Ha-Lapid, O facho, Orgão da Comunidade Israelita do Porto [periodical of the Jewish community in Porto], edited by Avr](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale95/187_2.jpg "Ha-Lapid – Periodical of the Jewish Community in Portugal – Volume wit")
Ha-Lapid, O facho, Orgão da Comunidade Israelita do Porto [periodical of the Jewish community in Porto], edited by Avraham Yisrael Ben-Rosh. Porto (Portugal): Empresa Diario do Porto, 1927-1948. Portuguese.
Volume of issues, containing 110 issues (issues no. 3-110, 141-142), from the first year of the periodical (1927) to its 15th year (1941). Two additional issues from the 22nd year of the periodical (1948).
The periodical was published in the years 1927-1958, and contained news and information on the events in the Jewish community in Porto and other Jewish communities around the world, articles on Jewish topics, various photographs, and more. At first the periodical was published on a monthly basis, but starting in 1929 it began to be published bimonthly (the last issues of the periodical were printed biannually).
Artur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887-1961; Hebrew name: Avraham Yisrael Ben-Rosh). Officer in the Portuguese army. Fought in the 1910 revolution and the First World War; decorated several times for acts of bravery and promoted to the rank of Capitão (Captain). Renowned for nurturing a rebirth of the Jewish community in Porto, and for returning thousands of descendants of Portuguese Marranos and conversos to the Jewish faith. Born in northern Portugal; received a Catholic education. Discovered at a young age that he was descended from Jewish conversos, and familiarized himself with Jewish customs upon reaching adulthood. Underwent halakhic conversion, and married the daughter of one of the leaders of Lisbon’s Jewish community. The main objective of his ambitious efforts was the renewal of the Jewish community of Porto, several centuries after it had been destroyed with the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal. As part of his mission – and while still pursuing his military career – in 1927, Barros Basto founded a journal titled "HaLapid" ("The Torch"). He also published books, articles, and research papers on various Jewish topics. Many of these can be found in the present collection. In addition, he established a yeshiva by the name of "Rosh Pinah."
In order to locate Portuguese Crypto-Jews, Barros Basto would ride his horse through the rural areas surrounding Porto, accompanied by a "mohel", and whenever he came across male descendants of conversos who showed an interest in returning to Judaism, he would suggest they consider undergoing circumcision.
In the early 1920s, he began realizing his goal of re-establishing a Jewish community in Porto, centered around a synagogue originally located in a small apartment. This institution grew and eventually relocated to a large, magnificent building. Known as the Kadoorie – Mekor Haim Synagogue, it was funded by donations from the Baron Edmond de Rothschild and the Baron Lawrence Kadoorie, and was inaugurated in 1938.
Barros Basto’s far-reaching endeavors aimed at renewing Jewish life in Portugal – and in particular, the circumcision ceremonies he promoted – aroused the wrath of the Catholic Church. They also drew the attention of officials in the autocratic regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, sparking an anti-Semitic backlash. As a result, he was falsely accused of assorted crimes, put on trial, and despite his complete innocence, dishonorably discharged in 1937 from the ranks of the Portuguese armed forces. This course of events earned him the title of "the Portuguese Dreyfus." Barros Basto died in 1961 and was buried in his place of birth, Amarante.
Long after his death, in 2012, Barros Basto’s name was officially rehabilitated by an act of the Portuguese Parliament, and he thus posthumously regained his status as a Portuguese national hero.
110 issues. One issue disconnected. Many sequences of leaves. 24 cm. Dry paper. Good-fair condition. Stains. Tears, including a few open tears affecting text, partially repaired with paper. New binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Escamoth, Reglamentos, e Ordenanças para o bom governo da Santa Irmandade Mishenet Zequenim, id est: Bordao dos Velhos, Novamente Istituida nesta cidade Amsterdam, para amparo de Velhos, e Velhas, desvalidos. Amsterdam, 1750. Printed with the permission of the community council.
Booklet containing ordinances of the Mishenet Zekenim society – a home for old men and women associated with the Portuguese Talmud Torah community in Amsterdam. This old age home was one of the earliest known Jewish welfare institutions of its kind.
The Spanish-Portuguese community was established in Amsterdam by an increasing flow of Jews drawn there for its relative religious tolerance and commercial opportunities. The 1579 Union of Utrecht declared that no person would be persecuted or interrogated on religious grounds, which made the city the destination of choice for Marranos from the Iberian Peninsula and southern France who wished to begin practicing Judaism openly. In its early years in the late 16th century, the community was not officially recognized and was forbidden from building a synagogue. Towards the mid-17th century, the city was already home to some 2500 Jews; the small congregations – Neveh Shalom, Beit Yisrael and Beit Yaakov – united in 1639 to form a Sephardic congregation named Talmud Torah, and in 1675, the congregation inaugurated its magnificent synagogue, the Esnoga, active to this day. The elite of the Sephardic society contributed much to the economy of the city and to Dutch colonization efforts, and the great benefit they brought to the city led the authorities to grant the community extensive freedom and autonomous rights. The members of the community became prominent physicians, philosophers, poets and rabbis. Amsterdam was one of the prominent printing centers in Europe, and was home to Jewish printers renowned for their high standards of work.
[6]; 9, [1] pages. 19.5 cm. Good condition. Colorful wrapper; light wear to wrapper.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Orot HaMitzvot, commentaries and novellae on the reasons for commandments, according to the order of the Torah portions, with Emek Binyamin – responsa, halachic rulings and laws by R. Binyamin Dias-Brandon [a rabbi of the Portuguese community of Amsterdam). Amsterdam: Jan Janson, [1753]. First editions of both works.
Divisional title page for Emek Binyamin (which was also printed separately). At the beginning of Orot HaMitzvot are many approbations and poems in praise of the author and his book, by rabbis of Amsterdam and Hamburg.
Emek Binyamin sections 15-16 contain a halachic correspondence regarding inheritance between the author and R. Aharon Ledesma of Suriname (South America; his location is mentioned in the contents on the last page). This is the first place in responsa literature where a European rabbi addresses an American rabbi.
Ownership inscriptions on front endpaper. Inscription on title page.
[18], 103, [1]; [2], 22 leaves. 20 cm. Good condition. Stains. Early leather binding, front part loose, damaged.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Three decrees and documents relating the citizenship and rights of Jews in France. France, 1790. French.
The decrees were published shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution, in the period when France underwent extreme societal and governmental changes. At the beginning of the revolution, King Louis XVI was forced to acquiesce to the demands of the new National Assembly, the estates system of rights was replaced with elected bodies, and the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen was authored.
• Adresse à l'Assemblée Nationale, Paris: National Assembly, 1789 [i.e. January 1790].
A petition submitted by the Spanish-Portuguese community in Bordeaux to the National Assembly in France, regarding their citizenship and equal rights.
8 pages (double leaf, folded). Approx. 27 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Creases and wear. Tears and holes, affecting text.
• Proclamation du roi, sur un décret de l'assemblée nationale, concernant les Juifs, du 16 Avril 1790 [proclamation of the king about a decree of the National Assembly regarding the Jews, 16 April, 1790]. Paris: L'Imprimerie Royale, 1790.
A decree of protection passed by the revolutionary National Assembly of France, approved by King Louis XVI. The decree grants protection of the law and citizenship to the Ashkenazi Jews in the Alsace and Lorraine provinces. The decree instructs the authorities and the National Guard to defend the Jews in their provinces and protect their lives and property. At the top of the leaf is printed a woodcut.
[1] double leaf (2 printed pages). Approx. 27 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Tear to fold.
• Lettres patentes du Roi, sur le décret de l'Assemblée nationale, du 20 juillet dernier, portant suppression des droits d'habitation, de protection, de tolérance et de redevances semblables sur les Juifs, données à Saint-Claude le 7 août 1790. La Rochelle: P. L. Chauvet, 1790.
Official decree of King Louis XVI cancelling the yearly tax of 20,000 livres that had been levied on the Jews of Metz, as well as other taxes levied on French Jews, according to the decision of the French National Assembly on July 20, 1790. At the top of the first page is printed a woodcut.
4 pages. 25 cm. Good condition. Stains and light damage. Bound with red paper wrapper.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Vayikra, Part III of the Five Books of the Torah, with Haftarot, Rashi, Baal HaTurim and Siftei Chachamim, and with the commentaries of the Chida – Nachal Kedumim on the Torah and Nachal Sorek on the Haftarot. Safed: Yisrael Bak, [1833].
Some of the words on the title page are printed in red ink.
This is the second or third book printed by R. Yisrael Bak in Safed. The other parts of the Chumash from this press are unknown, and it appears that only the Book of Vayikra was printed. Bak printed another edition in tandem without the commentaries of the Chida.
Signature on title page: "Ezra Dweck HaKohen" [the Dweck family was an illustrious family of kohanim in Syria which produced leading Torah scholars, rabbis and poskim].
137 leaves. 20 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains and traces of former dampness (with light mold stains). Worming, affecting text, partially repaired with paper filling. Open tears, affecting text, including marginal open tears to the title page, and a large open tear to the final leaf (with loss to about half the leaf), repaired with paper filling. Some leaves supplied from another copy. On the title page is an ink drawing around the title and location of printing. New binding.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Kenesiyah LeShem Shamayim, against witchcraft and demon worship, by R. Menashe Matlub Sithon, Rabbi of Syria and head of the Safed Beit Din. Jerusalem: Eliyahu and Moshe Sason, 1874. Only edition.
Copy of the author's son R. Chaim Sithon, Rabbi of Safed – at the top of the title page is his handwritten ownership inscription.
The author, R. Menashe Matlub Sithon (d. 1876), Rabbi of Syria, immigrated to Safed and served as the head of its Beit Din in his later years. His son R. Chaim Sithon was born in Safed and later served as Rabbi of the Sephardic community in the city.
Kenesiyah LeShem Shamayim was composed to oppose magical practices that had spread among Jewish women in Jerusalem, Aleppo and elsewhere, particularly "indulco", a ceremony of "sweetening" held for the demons, for cures, birth and various troubles.
[2], 93 leaves. 19 cm. Good-fair condition. Minor stains and wear. Worming. Original binding, worn and damaged.
Shoshana Halevy, no. 210.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.