Auction 54 - Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art

Derech Chaim - Kapust, 1819 - Underground Edition

Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $1,250
Including buyer's premium
Derech Chaim V'Tochachat Mussar Haskel, "Sha'ar HaTeshuva" and "Sha'ar HaTefillah". Chassidic essays by the "Middle" Rebbe, R. Dov Ber Schneersohn. Kapust (Kopys) [1819].
The first 1819 Kapust edition has three variants with different paginations. According to the official bibliography of the Otzar HaChassidim K.H.T (Karnei Hod Torah) edition (Derech Chaim, p. 117), the three editions were printed in Kapust in 1819 and thus they are also recorded in Stefansky Chassidut, no. 138. However, Haberman in his listing in Sha'arei Chabad (Alei Ayin, 1952) writes that "It seems that this was printed in Lvov in c. 1850". R. Shalom Duber Levine in his essay on this edition (Yagdil Torah - Chabad, Year 8, Issue 59, pp. 247-254) disagrees and writes that this edition was printed in Russia-Poland or in Kapust, in an underground Chabad printing press which was established during the 1837 decree prohibiting publishing Jewish books. In this printing press, only five books were printed with forged censor authorizations and with fake dates of printing. The title pages of each of these five printings bear an old decoration originating in a Russian printing press which was closed at that time.
[4], 136 leaves. 18.5 cm. Good condition. Minor damages to title page. Old binding, worn.
Chabad Chassidism - Books, Manuscripts and Letters
Chabad Chassidism - Books, Manuscripts and Letters