F i n e Ju d a i C a . he b r e w pr i n t e d bo o K s , ma n u s C r i p t s , Gr a p h i C & Ce r e m o n i a l ar t Fe a t u r i n G a n ex C e p t i o n a l Co l l e C t i o n o F am e r i C a n Ju d a i C a K e s t e n b a u m & Co m p a n y th u r s d a y , ma y 27t h , 2010 K e s t e n b a u m & Co m p a n y . Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art A Selection of fine bindings Catalogue of F i n e Ju d a i C a . HEBREW PRINTED BOOKS , MANUSCRI P TS , CERE M ONIAL & GRA ph IC ART Including: Rare Books from the Library of Gratz College, Elkins Park, Penn. Featuring: An Exceptional Collection of American-Judaica Hebrew Printed Books of the 16th-century Fine Livres d’Artistes Judaic-Italiana. Together with Ceremonial Art from an Historic New York Congregation (Hebrew Index Available on Request) ——— To be Offered for Sale by Auction, Thursday, 27th May, 2010 at 3:00 pm precisely ——— 242 West 30th Street, 12th Floor (Between Seventh & Eighth Avenues) New York City ——— Viewing Beforehand: Sunday 23rd May - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm Monday 24th May - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Tuesday 25th May - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Wednesday 26th May - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm NO VIEWING ON THE DAY OF SALE This Sale may be referred to as:“Ushuaia” Sale Number Forty-Eight Illustrated Catalogues: $35 (US) * $42 (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 e s t e n b a u m & Co m p a n y . Chairman: Daniel E. Kestenbaum Operations Manager: Jackie Insel Client Accounts: S. Rivka Morris Client Relations: Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq. (Consultant) Printed Books & Manuscripts: Rabbi Eliezer Katzman Rabbi Bezalel Naor Ceremonial & Graphic Art: Aviva J. Hoch (Consultant) Catalogue Art Director and Photographer: Anthony Leonardo Auctioneer: Harmer F. Johnson (NYCDCA License no. 0691878) For all inquiries relating to this sale please contact: Daniel E. Kestenbaum 270 257 246 275 56 266 275 264 103 263 33 54 42 269 96 276 53 Front Cover by Lot Number Frontispiece by Lot Number Back Cover Illustration: Exceptional Poster by Ze’ev Raban. Jerusalem, 1929. (Lot 343) List of prices realized will be posted on our Web site, www.kestenbaum.net, following the sale. — I NTRODUCTION — he present extensive catalogue carries a broad offering of rarities reflecting a half-millennia of T the extraordinary rich culture of Jewish literature, history and art. This auction is particularly notable due to the many books consigned by Gratz College, the oldest independent institution of Jewish learning in the United States - of which an encapsulated historical overview is presented on the next page. The array of highly significant items of American-Judaica (Lots 255-297) is of singular attention, including: The first Hagadah printed in America; The Jackson Prayer-Book; A complete set of the first Machzorim printed in America and many of Isaac Leeser’s most important works. Other select highlights within this auction include: Early Printed Books: Soncino’s Later Prophets, 1485 (Lot 30); a mint copy of Delmedigo’s scientific Sepher Eilim (Lot 71); the Cremona edition of Nissim Gerondi’s Responsa, printed entirely on blue paper (Lot 90). Passover Hagadot (Lots 93-106): Especially, the Szyk Hagadah and a deluxe issue of the Amsterdam Hagadah, the printer’s personal copy. Holocaust-era (Lots 114-119): Especially, a complete set of the historic She’erith HaPleitah Talmud. Italian-Judaica (Lots 128-137) reflecting the quest for social emancipation over two centuries. Illustrated Books (Lots 226-254): Especially the Berlin 1931 Pentateuch in an exceptional binding. Among Manuscripts and Autograph Letters (Lots 298-321) is an important Maimonides text from Yemen and a 4-page personal letter by Chaya Moussia Schneerson written just a few days prior to her wedding in 1928. Graphic Art (Lots 322-347) includes an exceptional poster designed by Ze’ev Raban. Ceremonial Art (Lots 348-360) features a rare 18th-century Nürnburg silver Kiddush cup. Additional categories in the auction include: Anglo-Judaica, Bibles, Fine Bindings, Karaitica, Liturgical and Kabbalistic texts. Please note, whenever “ex-library” is stated in the catalogue, this can include a variety of institutional stamps, book-plates, call-numbers and other library markings, none of which are necessarily recorded in each lot description. — P REFACE — ratz College, the oldest independent college of Jewish studies in America traces its G origin to both the Hebrew Education Society founded by Isaac Leeser in 1848 which was authorized by the Commonwealth of Philadelphia to award college degrees, and to a Trust established in 1856 by Hyman Gratz, banker, philanthropist and Mikveh Israel Parnass, “to establish a college for Jews in the County and the City of Philadelphia.” Thus, from its very beginning, Gratz College served a dual role; it was both an institution of higher Jewish learning and an institution to educate the wider Jewish community. Now in its second century, Gratz College offers an array of academic programs in Jewish studies and in education. These programs are offered on campus in Elkins Park, at sites in Greater Philadelphia, and through its burgeoning distance learning program online. At the same time, Gratz College continues to provide adult Jewish education to the wider local community. Gratz’s commitment to provide high level Jewish studies to members of the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community is not new. Rather it follows a tradition begun in 1895 by Solomon Schechter, then a scholar of Rabbinics at Cambridge University, when he made his teaching debut in America by offering six public lectures at Gratz College. Other late 19th- early 20th-century scholars teaching or offering public lectures at Gratz College included Kaufmann Kohler, president of the Hebrew Union College and architect of the Reform Movement’s Pittsburgh Platform; Sabato Morais, Mikveh Israel’s traditionalist rabbi and one of the founders of the early Jewish Theological Seminary and the Zionist leader Aaron Friedenwald. The Tuttleman Library of Gratz College is home to over 160,000 items. It is the Jewish Public Free Library of Philadelphia, a major scholarly resource for its student body and is sought out by scholars and research institutions as the library of first choice for its Judaic holdings. The books consigned by Gratz College to Kestenbaum & Company for auction-sale are extraneous to the present needs of the College. The proceeds derived will support critical programming at the College and at high school levels. Jerry M. Kutnick, PhD Dean for Academic Affairs Associate Professor for History and Thought — P RINTED BOOKS — 1 ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC. Pirush HaTorah [commentary to the Pentateuch]. Edited by Samuel d’Archivolti. FIRST EDITION. Printer’s device on title (Yaari, Hebrew Printers’ Marks 18). On front fly and title, Hebrew signatures of three generations of Family Rophe. ff. 425 (i.e. 424), (1). Marginal stains. Contemporary blind-tooled morocco with clasps (one clasp missing), spine worn. Folio. [Vinograd, Venice 641; Mehlman 626]. Venice, Asher Parenzo for Giovanni di Gara: 1579. $1000-1500 “The commentary on the Pentateuch may be considered Abrabanel’s most authoritative presentation of his views, and it was not without good reason that he considered it the first and foremost of his works.” See B. Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel (1968) p. 86). [see illustration right] 2 ABUDARHAM, DAVID. Abudarham [commentary to and laws of prayers]. Cherubic illustration as masthead on title and ff.2-3. Printer’s mark on title (Yaari, Hebrew Printers’ Marks 34). ff.147. Wormed and silked, with minor losses of text, dampstains. Modern blind- tooled calf. Sm. 4to. [Vinograd, Venice 512]. Venice, Giorgio di Cavalli: 1566. $400-600 David ben Joseph Abudarham of Seville wrote his liturgical commentary in 1340. He was motivated to write the work in response to contemporary liturgical confusion: “The lengthy exile and intensive persecution have led to a variety of customs in different kingdoms so that most ordinary folk, when they offer their prayers to God, are almost clueless as to their meaning and with no understanding of the sense and structure of liturgical practices.” Abudarham’s work accordingly not only provides clear rules, but devotes much space to the reasons behind many customs, as well as commenting on the text of the prayers and the more Lot 1 important piyutim. The work offers commentary to all daily, Sabbath, monthly, Festival and fast-day prayers, as well as providing guidance on lectionaries, the calendar and an extensive treatise upon the various benedictions. The work comprises an invaluable encyclopedia concerning the ritual customs of Spain, France, Provence and Germany. See S.C. Reif, Judaism and Hebrew Prayer (1993), pp. 204-5. 3 AKRA, ABRAHAM. (Ed.) Mehararei Nemeirim. FIRST EDITION. Title within ornamental border. ff. 18, 6, 17-56. Lacking final ff. 6 of indices (as in most copies). Some staining, slight marginal repair to upper corner of one leaf touching few letters, ex-library. Later boards. 8vo. [Vinograd, Venice 877]. Venice, Daniel Zanetti: 1599. $400-600 A collection of invaluable “Kelalei HaGemara” or principles of Talmudic methodology.