Collection of documents – letters, poems, skits, and other items, from the estate of Hananya Ratzkovsky, a soldier from Haifa in the Entertainments National Service Association – ENSA, who served in the Royal Engineering Corps in the Middle East. Italy, Libya, Palestine (and elsewhere?), 1942-1945. Hebrew, a little English and Italian.
A varied collection, including personal letters sent to Ratzkovsky, some of them by friends who were also involved in cultural affairs in the Hebrew units of the British Army, letters sent to him by his parents and letters he sent to his parents, alongside documents related to his work in the ENSA: poems written by soldiers of the Jewish Brigade, a parody of the eighth field army as well as songs and skits about soldiers' lives, a handwritten leaf – a eulogy for a female soldier named Ofra who died in the Libyan desert (1943), songs for sing-alongs copied on notes or typewritten, letters sent by children from Palestine to the soldiers of the brigade, a skit titled "A Hebrew Company in the Desert", by Electrical & Mechanical coy. 544, together with female soldiers from coy. 519 (typewritten), bulletin no. 1 (internal) of Electrical & Mechanical coy. 544 and additional items.
A total of more than 100 documents. Condition varies, fair-poor. Severe dampness damage. Stains and wear. Some of the leaves are torn or partly missing.
See next item.

An illuminated parchment leaf from a manuscript of the Epistles of Paul, part of the New Testament. [Unknown place, the Middle Ages]. Latin.
Parchment; ink; painted and gilt.
The end of the Epistle to Titus and the beginning of the Epistle to Philemon. The Epistle to Philemon opens with a large initial P, illuminated and historiated.
The margins of the leaf are trimmed, affecting the text on both sides.
24.5X45 cm. Fair condition. Cuts along the leaf. Blemishes. Stains. The text is trimmed on both sides of the leaf. The leaf is framed and was unexamined out of frame.
From the estate of Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn.

Biblia, ad vetustissima exemplaria. Venice: Haeredes Nicolai Beuilaquae, & socios, 1583. Latin.
Latin edition of the Holy Scriptures, based on the Lubien translation, with approx. 600 small in-text woodcuts depicting various biblical scenes.?1126, [24] pp (mispagination), 19.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and a small number of creases. Tears at the edges of several leaves. Large open tear to pages 1-2 (affecting the text). Minor worming to some of the leaves. The first gathering is loose. Stamps and a paper sticker on the front endpaper. Non-original half-leather binding. Minor blemishes and tears to the binding.
This edition is not in NLI.

Hi sunt in hoc Codice libelli X. diui Gregorii Nazanzeni. [Strasbourg]: Loanne Knobloch, 1508. Latin.
An early edition of the writings of Christian theologian Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 329-389). Woodcut printer's device on the last page.
[100] leaves, approx. 19 cm. Good condition. Stains. Worming to approx. 20 leaves (small, slightly affecting the text). Handwritten notations on several pages. Several tears along edges. Bookplate. Slightly worn binding.
From the estate of Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn.

Two books bound together: Vergilius' writings and a commentary on Aristotle. Venice and Basel, 16th century. Latin.
1. P. Virgilii Maronis, poetae Mantuani, universum poema. Venice: Ioannem Mariam Bonellum, 1562. Latin.
An annotated edition of the writings of the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro (19-70 B.C.E). With illustrated initials and in-text illustrations (woodcuts).
2. Petri victorii commentarij longe doctissimi in tres libros Aristotelis de Arte dicendi [ex officina Ioannis Oporini, 1549 – according to the colophon], Basel. Latin and a little Greek.
A commentary on Aristotle's rhetoric, by the Italian philologist and humanist Piero Vettori (1499-1585).
[4], 413 leaves (slight mispagination); [11] pp, 871 [i.e. 870] columns, [8] pp, approx. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and blemishes (most of them minor). Notations on several pages. Bookplate. Wormholes in the upper margins of approx. a hundred leaves at the end of the book (with negligible damage to text). Old, damaged parchment binding.
From the estate of Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn.