Fine Judaica, May 27Th, 2010, Lot 96 (The Gratz College Copy)
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F i n e J u d a i C a . booKs, manusCripts, autograph Letters, CeremoniaL obJeCts & graphiC art Featuring the ColleCtion oF the Late dr. alfred moLdovan K e s t e n b au m & C om pa n y thursday, nov ember 13th, 2014 K est e n bau m & C o m pa ny . Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art A Lot 355 Catalogue of F i n e J u d a i C a . PRINTED BOOK S, MANUSCRIPTS, AUTOGRAPH LETTERS, CEREMONIAL OBJECTS AND GRAPHIC A RT FEATURING: SELECTIONS FROM THE COllECTION OF THE LATE DR. A lfRED MOLDOVAN ——— To be Offered for Sale by Auction, Thursday, 13th November, 2014 at 3:00 pm precisely ——— Viewing Beforehand: Sunday, 9th November - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm Monday, 10th November - 10:00 pm - 6:00 pm Tuesday, 11th November - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Wednesday, 12th November - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm No Viewing on the Day of Sale This Sale may be referred to as: “Selma” Sale Number Sixty-Three Illustrated Catalogues: $38 (US) * $45 (Overseas) KestenbauM & CoMpAny Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art . 242 West 30th street, 12th Floor, new york, NY 10001 • tel: 212 366-1197 • Fax: 212 366-1368 e-mail: [email protected] • World Wide Web site: www.Kestenbaum.net K est e n bau m & C o m pa ny . Chairman: Daniel E. Kestenbaum Operations Manager: Jackie S. Insel Client Relations: Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq. (Consultant) Printed Books & Manuscripts: Rabbi Eliezer Katzman Ceremonial & Graphic Art: Abigail H. Meyer Catalogue Art Director and Photographer: Anthony Leonardo Auctioneer: Mark O. Howald (NYCDCA License no: 1460490) For all inquiries relating to this sale please contact: Daniel E. Kestenbaum Order of Sale: Printed Books: Lots 1 - 238 Illustrated Books: Lots 239 - 268 Autograph Letters & Manuscripts: Lots 269 - 322 Graphic Art: Lots 323 - 386 Ceremonial Objects: Lots 387 – End of Sale Front Cover Illustration lot 219 Back Cover Illustration lot 389 List of prices realized will be posted on our Web site, www.kestenbaum.net, following the sale. Dr. Alfred Moldovan (1921-2013) he walls in my parents’ apartment were completely covered with graphics depicting Jewish life, including mizrachs, posters, maps and T views of Jerusalem. It seemed like they kept an army of framers busy. Bookcases and shelves that reached the ceilings teemed with Haggadot, Bibles, Siddurim, and other texts central to Jewish identity. Other cases contained silver menorahs, spice boxes, rimonim, and other ritual objects. There was an infinite variety of objects and materials concerning, depicting, and used by Jews in both their religious and secular lives. It was overwhelming and reflected the passion and dedication of my parents as collectors. Their weekends were spent combing through bookstores, visiting other collectors and dealers, and no auction was ever missed. My and my brother’s weekends were spent ripping open boxes and packages and listening, not always patiently, as my father explained what everything was. Over time the collection which began in the late 1960s consisted of thousands of items. They were excited by each and every one and relished the role each item played in the history and continuum of Jewish life. They viewed themselves not only as collectors but also preservationists – saving and organizing remarkably eclectic collections of materials. “Nothing that is Jewish is alien to me,” my father often said about his collecting philosophy. Certain materials in the collection of significant historical and educational value have been donated over time to important national and international museums and institutions of Judaic studies, where they can be studied and analyzed by current and future scholars and displayed for the benefit of the public at large. The items in this auction are among those that remained with my father throughout his life: the visual images and pictures he looked at in his living room and the books and objects that surrounded him. Collecting requires passion and commitment. It is fitting that these items pass to others like him and my mother who will find joy and meaning in each item. Joseph T. Moldovan I NTRODUCTION hat more appropriate place could there be for two collectors of Judaica to meet for the first time if not the basement warehouse of a fine book dealer. So it was for me in the mid 1960’s in the basement of Feldheim’s Books on the Lower East Side. From that moment, amazement at and affection for a particularly remarkable man never left me. WDr. Alfred Moldovan was the doyen of Judaica collectors, in the most meaningful and creative sense of that term. He has left a legacy to be both emulated and appreciated. His approach to everything was imbued with energetic vitality, analytic virtuosity and acute intelligence. This showed nowhere as much as in his collecting of Judaica. Al did not simply collect Jewish books and objects. Each and every acquisition served as a basis for his research into origins, forms, inscriptions and customs. He was one of the very few collectors from the last 100 years who not only assembled a superb range of books, manuscripts and objects, but was the epitome of the gentleman scholar. The genus has virtually disappeared from the world of Judaica. His love for the material knew no boundaries. Any visit to his home was an escape to a different world. Every shelf, every wall, every piece of furniture served as a carrier of some essence of his interests in Jewish life. He was a true connoisseur, seeking out that which was the finest, that which carried the most importance and meaning. Both Al and his wife Jean delved deeply into the field of Judaica and created several sections within the general collection, each of which developed into the finest of the genre. He had a particular love for the Holy Land, reflected both in the collection of Holy Land maps, including some truly unique print- ings, as well as in the assembling of the most extraordinary group of views of Jerusalem imaginable. His love of the Haggadah led him to build a library of that guide to the Pesach meal which included the overwhelming majority of the first 200 such books that were printed. The wonderful collection of posters that documented Jewish life of the 20th century, a sampling of which was recently displayed at the Temple Emanu-El Museum, the wide-ranging variety of Aleph-Bet primers and illustrated childrens’ books, the vast collection of Jewish ethnography jewelry – all of the above were but a sampling of the treasures at the Moldovan home. He was a generous lender to exhibitions in museums, several of which were single collection displays. More importantly he was even more generous with his time and advice to anyone who expressed an interest in Judaica and turned to him. He shared his time and knowledge, including the founding of the Harry G. Friedman Society. For years Al, with his unusual ability with numerous languages, volunteered at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library to identify thousands of volumes that had been packed away since the terrible fire of 1966. Al’s motto was “Justify your existence”. Day by day, hour by hour. His personal history was exactly that. The day after Pearl Harbor, Al enlisted in the American armed forces and became one of the first radar specialists, taking part in many bombing runs over Germany. After being released, Al entered medi- cal school. Upon graduation he chose to open his office not in Park Avenue but in Spanish Harlem. With his attachment to true Communist ideals he believed in complete social justice. During the turbulent time of racial integration in the South, Al traveled there to serve as Dr. Martin Luther King’s personal physician in the famous Selma march period. On “Bloody Sunday” when the police attacked the demon- strators on the far side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge with clubs and tear gas, there were multiple casual- ties. Al, who was with the ambulances on the other side, faced down the sheriff and his men who were blocking the medical staff from crossing to help the injured. As reported in the New York Times “Dr. Moldovan…..broke away from the blockade by force of will, and with the only ambulance to make it out of Selma, crossed to find a ….civilian battlefield littered with…prostrate human forms”. That was Al: A brilliant intellectual and a man of immediate moral action. Such actions on his part were the rule, not the exception. On a personal note, I can tell you about the first Gulf war in 1991. When the Scud missiles began falling on Tel Aviv, Al boarded the first available flight to Israel. While others were leaving, Al arrived, identifying with the threat to the Jewish people and sharing it. His Judaica collection was a part of this moral code that was deep in his soul, the essence of which was his attachment to humanity and his passion for the Jewish people for 92 years. William Gross, Tel Aviv — P RINTED B OOKS — 1 AARON BERACHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA. Ma’avar Yabok [prayers for the sick and dead] FIRST EDITION. Few marginal notations. ff. 40, pp. 41-55, ff. 57-84; 146, 149-162, 155-172. Stained in places, few paper repairs to corners with minimal loss. Later boards, covers loose, worn. 4to. Vinograd, Mantua 220; Mehlman 523. Mantua, Judah Samuel, 1626. $800-1200 ❧ Includes laws of visiting the sick and correct modes of behavior toward the deceased and toward mourners. The author (d. 1639), was a follower of the Lurianic Kabbalah as transmitted to Italian scholars by the mysterious figure of R.