"For the excellent and lofty… Yisaschar Be'er, may the Lord keep him, from the city of Dresden…" / "In the year VeYeter Oz, Adar 2, a wicked priest preached to the crowd…" Two poems in the handwriting of poet Rachel Morpurgo. [Trieste, Italy], 1856, 1859.
Rachel Morpurgo (1790-1871), Italian Hebrew poet, daughter of the Luzzatto family (on her father's side she was the granddaughter of poet Yitzhak Luzzatto, and on her mother's side she was the cousin of Shmuel David Luzzatto - the Shadal). As a child and youth she studied religious texts only, and at a young age began writing poems. Her first poem was published through the Shadal's efforts in the journal "Kokhevei Yitzhak". On the 19th anniversary of her death and the centenary of her birth, Yitzhak Hayyim Castiglioni published her poems in a volume titled “Ugav Rachel” (Rachel’s Harp), alongside her letters and biography.
The two poems found here were printed in “Ugav Rachel” (Trieste-Krakow, 1890), poem 23 (p. 73) and poem 35 (p. 85), respectively. The manuscript of the poem “In the year VeYeter Oz…” contains a slight difference compared to the printed version (in the last line).
10X22.5 cm leaf, 20X28 cm leaf. Good condition. Stains. Folding marks. Slight tears. Notes in pencil.