F INE J UDAICA . HEBREW PRINTED BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS &CEREMONIAL ART K ESTENBAUM & COMPANY TUESDAY, JUNE 29TH, 2004 K ESTENBAUM & COMPANY . Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art Lot 340 Catalogue of F INE J UDAICA . HEBREW PRINTED BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS &CEREMONIAL ART Including Judaic Ceremonial Art: From the Collection of Daniel M. Friedenberg, Greenwich, Conn. And a Collection of Holy Land Maps and Views To be Offered for Sale by Auction on Tuesday, 29th June, 2004 at 3:00 pm precisely ——— Viewing Beforehand on Sunday, 27th June: 10:00 am–5:30 pm Monday, 28th June: 10:00 am–6:00 pm Tuesday, 29th June: 10:00 am–2:30 pm Important Notice: The Exhibition and Sale will take place in our New Galleries located at 12 West 27th Street, 13th floor, New York City. This Sale may be referred to as “Sheldon” Sale Number Twenty Four. Illustrated Catalogues: $35 • $42 (Overseas) KESTENBAUM & COMPANY Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art . 12 West 27th Street, 13th 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 ESTENBAUM & COMPANY . Chairman: Daniel E. Kestenbaum Operations Manager & Client Accounts: Margaret M. Williams Press & Public Relations: Jackie Insel Printed Books: Rabbi Bezalel Naor Manuscripts & Autographed Letters: Rabbi Eliezer Katzman Ceremonial Art: Aviva J. Hoch (Consultant) Catalogue Photography: Anthony Leonardo Auctioneer: Harmer F. Johnson (NYCDCA License no. 0691878) ❧ ❧ ❧ For all inquiries relating to this sale please contact: Daniel E. Kestenbaum ❧ ❧ ❧ ORDER OF SALE Printed Books: Lots 1 – 224 Manuscripts: Lots 225 - 271 Holy Land Maps: Lots 272 - 285 Ceremonial Art:s Lots 300 - End of Sale Front Cover: Lot 242 Rear Cover: A Selection of Bindings List of prices realized will be posted on our Web site, www.kestenbaum.net, following the sale. FINE JUDAICA: Early Printed & Illustrated Books, Manuscripts and Works of Graphic Art — PRINTED BOOKS — 1. ABRABANEL, JUDAH. (“Leone Hebreo”). Dialoghi di Amore (“Conversations on Love”). ff. 246, (1). [Adams A-63]. Venice, Domenico Giglio, 1558. * Bound with: Dialogo della institution della donne di Messer Lodovico Dolce. ff. 84, (3). [cf. Adams D-728]. Venice, Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari e Fratelli, 1553. Printer’s device on opening and closing leaves. Marbled endpapers. Marbled boards, gilt extra. 8vo. $500-700 ❧ Author was the eldest son of Don Isaac Abrabanel and one of the foremost philosophers of the Renaissance. His central thesis in the Dialoghi is that love is the foundation of the world and that nothing besides it exists. Judah Abrabanel’s poetic sentiment and orthodox traditions, significantly contribute to the fact that he could not be content with the rationalism of the Aristotelian- Maimonidean system and was more attracted to the mystical world of ideas of the medieval Kabbalah, with its strong inclination toward neo-Platonism. 2. ABRAHAM SAMUEL OF VENICE. Shirath Dodi [an abridgement of the Mishnah of Tracteate Shabbath in rhymed prose]. FIRST EDITION. Title within typographical border. Opening words within decorative woodcut vignettes, historiated woodcut tail-pieces. ff. 20. Browned, dampstained in places. Recent calf-backed marbled boards. 8vo. [Vinograd, Venice 1662]. Venice, Bragadin: 1719. $150-200 3. (ALEPPO). Vital, Chaim. Sha’arei Kedushah [Kabbalah]. * BOUND WITH (As Originally Issued): Sepher Eilim Letruphah [letters of moral instruction by Moses Nachmanides and Elijah, Gaon of Vilna]. (4),48,8. Modern morocco. 12mo. [Yaari, Aleppo 1 and 2]. Aleppo, Elijah Hai b. Abraham Sasson: 1866. $800-1000 ❧ The first two Hebrew books printed in this ancient Jewish community of Northern Syria. Sasson was sent by his father to Italy to learn the art of printing. The rabbinic type he uses here is in fact very similar to that used by the Livornese Hebrew presses. [SEE ILLUSTRATION RIGHT] Lot 3 1 4. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier. Piratas de la America [“Buccaneers of America”]. Translated into Spanish by Alonso de Bonne-Maison. FIRST SPANISH EDITION. Title printed in red and black. Engraved coat-of-arms on verso of title. With one (of four) engraved portraits; two (of five) engraved plates, one folding; engraved folding map of Panama; text engraving on p.20. pp.(42),16,328,(4). Title loose with neat small marginal repair, lightly browned. Contemporary sheep, gently rubbed at edges,upper cover detached, lacking spine. 4to. [Palau 85730; Sabin 23471]. [Amsterdam, David de Castro Tartas]: 1681. $5000-7000 ❧ A pseudo-Cologne imprint, the balance of conventional scholarship identifies this work as the out- put of David de Castro Tartas’ press at Amsterdam. Most of the contributors to this edition, were from the circle of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam, several of whom were well- integrated in Christian literary circles and were personal aquaintances of Exquemelin. It is interesting that the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam were so curious about the Americas. Of great significance, is the introductory poem by the Marrano poet and historiographer, Daniel Levi (Miguel de) Barrios who was an active member of the Amsterdam Sephardic Talmud Torah congregation. In it, he displays knowledge of the Atlantic and Caribbean Islands, including Trinidad, Tobago, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Santa Lucia, Guadalupe, Barbados, Jamaica and Haiti. Barrios had made the voyage to Tobago in 1660, but his wife died on arrival, and, disconsolate, he returned soon after to Holland. Barrios’ poem is one of the earliest works specifically devoted to America by a Jewish writer. [SEE ILLUSTRATION BELOW] Lot 4 Lot 7 2 5. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Noah, Mordecai M. Newspaper clipping from the Salem Gazette, detailing Noah’s plan “praying that the State would authorize the sale of Grand Island in the Niagara River to him, for the pur- pose of building a city thereon and inviting a community of Jews to that place… Indeed we have often wondered why the Jews do not emigrate more frequently to the U. States, why they should suffer the intoler- ance of other governments, when an asylum so desirable can be found in this country.” Matted and framed along with the masthead of the newspaper and an engraving of Noah. Salem, February 8th: 1820. $300-500 6. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Anonymous. Twenty -Six Points of Comparison Between Hebrew Slavery Under the Mosaic Dispensation…and British Colonial and American Slavery…in the Early Part of the Ninteenth Century. Two words in Hebrew. pp.12. Unbound, gutter split. 8vo. Bristol, Wright & Bagnall, c.: 1825. $600-900 ❧ In the comparison between the two systems of slavery (Jewish and American Colonial) - from all perspectives: moral, legal and humane, the author portrays the system outlined in the Hebrew Bible to be far more ethical than the system of slavery of early 19th-century America. 7. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). (SURINAM). Sepher Soph Adam. Book-plate of M. Finzi-Lobo. Hebrew text with small portion in Spanish. pp.(2),6. Contemporary boards. [Not listed by Vinograd]. Amsterdam, S. Salzedo: 1827. $- ❧ A guide for members of the Burial Society of Surinam. Brought to publication by Jacob P. de Meza, resident of Paramaribo. The Jewish Community of Surinam in the Dutch West Indies, represents the oldest Jewish settle- ment in the Western Hemisphere. The historic Sephardic Congregation was situated some ten miles from Paramaribo in a settlement up the river known as the “Savannah of the Jews” (Joden Savanne). The Jews possessed high socio-economic status and enjoyed a remarkable degree of autonomy. The Community in Surinam felt itself closely bound to both Amsterdam (the mother of the earliest syna- gogues in the Americas) and New York’s Shearith Israel. This was due to both tradition and family ties, as well as the bonds of commerce. In 1832 the synagogue at Joden Savanne was destroyed by fire, soon after, civil revolt against the slave-trade, as well as the inroads of the climate, led to the abandonment of the Jewish colony of which nothing but the jungle-ruin now remains. See M.A. Cohen, Sephardim in the Americas, American Jewish Archives vol. XLIV (1992) pp.142-3. [SEE ILLUSTRATION FACING PAGE] 8. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Mrs. E.C.A. Schneider. Letters from Broosa, Asia Minor… Engraved frontispiece and plates (two of which portray Jews in local costume). Stained. Original boards, worn. 8vo. Chambersburg, Pa, 1846. $300-400 3 9. (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Manuscript on paper. Letter in Judeo-German from Menachem b. Leib Goldsmith (E. L. Goldsmith) to Dr. S. L. Leiser in Amsterdam. Two folio leaves (four sides). Some staining. 4to. New York, April 4th: 1848. $2000-2500 ❧ Contains many important historical details concerning the economic, social and religious life of Jews in America, especially the differences between the various Jewish-German, Polish and Dutch com- munities and synagogues. The writer reports that America is an “Eretz Zavath Chalav U’devash”, a land that flows with milk and honey. The French revolution has had a negligible impact on business conditions. Mentions the arrival of Dr. Lilienthal. Criticizes Lilienthal’s reform practices, stating that it will gain him enemies, as people are not prone to change. If you change the tune of “Yigdal”, people are horrified and think it is worse than cohabitng with a “Naarah Ha-meorasaah’” (a betrothed young lady) on Yom Kippur that falls on a Sabbath! A number of Christian clergymen expressed an interest in studying Ibn Ezra and Talmud. An inverted world: - “Gentiles learn Torah and Jews devour (fressen) ham.” Makes caustic remarks on certain segments of the Jewish German society calling them “Behemoth (animals) in human form.” Mentions a scandalous affair where someone (Lilienthal?) ate stuffed oysters after a eulogy and in general desecrates the Sabbath and eats “Treifoth” in public a whole year. Refers to works by Luzzato, Reggio and especially Rappoport.