Sefer Minhagim, by R. Shimon HaLevi Günzburg. Venice: Zuan (Giovanni) di Gara, 1593. Yiddish with integrated Hebrew. Second edition of the book, and first illustrated edition – containing dozens of fine woodcut illustrations alongside the text. Fine copy.
In the center of the title page appears an illustration of a winged figure holding a shield bearing an image of a jug, flanked by the caption: "Shimon Levi Gunzberg", the author's name.
The Yiddish Minhagim were first printed in Venice, 1589. The first edition was printed without illustrations; in 1593, the present edition was printed along with 32 fine woodcut illustrations throughout the book. These illustrations are original to this edition and were prepared specifically for it (26 different illustrations – six of them appear twice).
The illustrations became an integral part of Sefer Minhagim in the subsequent editions. They became familiar and well-known and were reused many times over the 17th and 18th century in other books too, such as Passover Haggadot, Birkat HaMazon and various other Yiddish books.
These unique illustrations shed light on the customs and ways of life of the Jews of the time, and serve as an important source for scholars; the customs depicted include: a woman lighting a hanging Sabbath lamp (Judenstern), Kiddush Levanah, checking for chametz, baking matzot for Passover, a haircut on Lag BaOmer, receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, recital of Kinot on Tishah B'Av, blowing the shofar in Elul and on Rosh Hashanah, a rabbi's sermon on Shabbat HaGadol and Shabbat Teshuvah, kaparot on the eve of Yom Kippur, dispensing candy to children on Simchat Torah, lighting Chanukah candles, a wedding, a circumcision, a funeral and many more.
Scholars debate whether the illustrations were made by a Jewish or non-Jewish artist. Notably, the illustration of the lighting of Chanukah candles depicts a seven-branched menorah (like the Temple menorah) rather than the eight- or nine-branched menorah used for Chanukah candles, an error that would apparently not be committed by a Jewish artist (see: Wolfthal, pp. 95-96; full citation below).
In addition to the abovementioned original illustrations, the book also contains 12 small illustrations of agricultural work and zodiacs according to the months of the year. These illustrations had already appeared in the Passover Haggadah published in Mantua, 1568.
Most of the book is printed in Yiddish, in the Ashkenazic typeface later known as "Tsene Rene letters", for its repeated use in printings of that book.
The book was printed for the Yiddish-speaking Jews in Europe (the title page mentions Germany, Italy, Poland, Bohemia and Moravia), mainly for the populace who weren't well-versed in Hebrew, and served as a popular guide to the customs applying during the year and over the course of life, in the synagogue and at home. The book was a resounding success: it was printed in some 50 editions over a period of about 200 years (the present edition was also published a mere three years after the first edition).
In addition to the new illustrations printed in the present edition, the author also added new contents that had not appeared in the first edition. The title page reads: "Minhagim – much more beautiful than the first ones were".
The end of leaf 80 contains concluding words from the author, who signs off: "So requests the writer, Shimon Levi Gunzburg".

5, 8-80, [10] leaves. Missing leaves 6-7 (no illustrations were printed on these leaves). Approx. 19 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Open tears to inner margins of title page and other leaves, slightly affecting text and one illustration, repaired with paper. Worming to last leaves. Close trimming, affecting bottom of some of the calendar leaves. Markings and notations within text in several places (marginal inscriptions to several leaves with Latin references to verses quoted in the book). Trimmed signature on margin of p. 8b: "Breina daughter of Shmu---". New leather binding.

[8] leaves at the end of the book, with a 70-year calendar – calendar of Rosh Chodesh and festivals, moladot and tekufot, for the years 1593-1664.
The present copy contains [2] additional leaves at the end of the book, with a poem for a bride by R. Yaakov Ulm. The gathering numbering on these leaves (23) matches the numbering of Sefer HaMinhagim (which ends with gathering 22). Apparently, the poem was also disseminated separately (the Bodleian Library holds the poem as an independent unit, while in the JTS Library in New York the poem is bound at the end of the book).

The present edition is especially rare, with few known extant copies. The copies known to us are: two copies in the Oppenheim collection in the Oxford Bodleian Library, one complete; one copy in the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) Library in New York – missing the first 8 leaves (shown on exhibition; see: Precious Possessions: Treasures from the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, 2001, p. 63, no. 44); one copy in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen – missing 20 leaves throughout the book; one copy in the Gross Family Collection in Tel Aviv – missing 22 leaves throughout the book (including first 9 leaves).
Not in NLI.

Literature:
1. Ch. Shmeruk, "Yiddish Presses in Italy", Italia III, 1-2 (1982), pp. 153-156, nos. 19, 20 (Hebrew).
2. Ch. Shmeruk, "The Illustrations of the Yiddish Minhagim, Venice 1593, Reprinted in 17th-Century Prague Books", Studies in Bibliography and Booklore XV (1984), pp. 31-52 (Hebrew).
3. Chava Turniansky, Erika Timm, Claudia Rosenzweig (eds.), Yiddish in Italia. Milan: Associazione italiana Amici dell’Università di Gerusalemme, 2003, p. 83, no. 41.
4. Diane Wolfthal, Picturing Yiddish: Gender, Identity, and Memory in the Illustrated Yiddish Books of Renaissance Italy. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2004, pp. 85-154.
5. Isaac Yudlov, Hebrew Printers' Marks, Jerusalem, 2001, pp. 36-40.