L'Ornement Hébraïque, album of lithographs compiled by Vladimir Stassof and David Gunzburg. Berlin: S. Calvary & Co., [1905]; the lithographs were printed in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) by Expédition impérial pour la confection des papiers de l'Etat.
27 loose lithographs, in color and gold, including a title page designed by the artist Ivan Pavlovich Ropett (Petrov). Placed in original folder. With a later edition of the accompanying booklet by David Gunzburg (see below).
The lithographs depict enlarged ornaments from some of the most prominent Jewish manuscripts in the world, held in the imperial library (presently the Russian State Library) in St. Petersburg (the Firkovitch collection). The ornaments were copied from the books themselves, without removing the books from the library, by a team of experts headed by the art critic Vladimir Stassof, one of the greatest art critics in Czarist Russia, who initiated the production of this album.

The ornaments include: • Entire pages from the First Leningrad Pentateuch (Chumash with Masorah and carpet pages, Egypt 929; Ms. II. 17), including an illustration of the Menorah in the inner courtyard of the Tabernacle with the Table of the Showbread, an additional illustration of the Menorah and other Tabernacle vessels, and a page with the names of the patrons of the Chumash (Avraham and Zaliah sons of Maimon). • Ornaments from the Leningrad Codex (the earliest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, Egypt 1008; MS. B. 19a). • And more.
The album was published thanks to the efforts of Vladimir Stassof (1824-1906), who also produced another album of ornaments, in the same format, copied from Slavic manuscripts (published by A. A. Ilin, St. Petersburg, 1887). When compiling the Hebrew album, Stassof approached Baron David Gunzburg (1857-1910), an Orientalist, student of Adolph Neubauer, and one of the only Jews in Czarist Russia bearing a title of nobility, who was entrusted with composing the foreword and commentaries. The preparation of the lithographs began in 1883 and was completed in 1886 – the date appearing on the title page, but the album was only published in 1905, in Berlin, due to delays with the foreword and commentaries.
[27] plates. Approx. 58 cm. Good condition. Minor stains, some minor blemishes (mostly to edges). Placed in original folder, with stains, tears and wear.
Enclosed: L'Ornement Hébreu par Vladimir Stassof et David Gunzburg – foreword and commentaries by David Gunzburg. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1920. French.

13 pages. 34.5 cm. Stains and creases. Strips of paper to margins. Inked stamp on title page. Fine, new binding, with parchment spine and corners and gilt title.

Reference:
• Bezalel Narkiss, Illuminations from Hebrew Bibles of Leningrad (Jerusalem: Bialik institute, 1989).
• Альбом Стасова-Гинцбурга и "мегилэ" Антокольского, by Ольга Васильева (Olga Vasilyeva), in: Studia Orientalia Electronica 99, 2004, pp. 369-383. Russian.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, FAC.1.