Eshkol HaKofer with Nachal Eshkol by Karaite Yehudah Hadassi. Gozleve, 1836.
Specifications: [2] 155 leaves, 33 cm. With stamps of Rabbi Chaim Yosef Isser Gad of Johannesburg.
Treatise regarding the tenets of the Karaite faith, opposing rabbinic Judaism, arranged according to the Ten Commandments. Written in ancient Hebrew. Yehudah Hadassi, nicknamed “Ha-Avel” lived in Constantinople in the 12th century. This is his primary work. A number of Karaite works were printed in Gozeleve and they are all rare. With Rabbi Chaim Yosef Isser Gad of Johannesburg’s signature on the title page and last page.
Rabbi Chaim Yosef Isser Gad (1880-1969) was born in Kovno. His father was Rabbi Yitzchak Aryeh HaLevi. He moved to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1913 and then to Israel in 1955. He authored many works between 1936 and and 1969, (including: Nishmat Yosef, Toldot Beit Yosef, Geulat V’Yeshuat Yisrael, Sefer Peninim Yikarim regarding the values of Torah and Judaism). He also compiled and published commentaries on the Torah of the early authorities, including: Rabbeinu Saadya Gaon, Rabbeinu Efraim, Rabbeinu Yosef Bechor Shor, R’ Yishaya di Tirani, Rabbeinu Menachem Meiri, Rabbeinu Shlomo ibn Gabriol, Rabbeinu Yonah Gerondi, Rabbi Elazar of Worms, the Rashb”a, the Rad”k, and R”Y Yaavetz.
Condition: Fine condition, aging stains, new binding. The title page was blemished and has been repaired. The spine is slightly loose, it has been reinforced inside the book with tape, folds along some of the leaves.
* Apirion Asah Lo HaMelech Shlomo, B’Hoda’at Sibat Chalukat HaKaraim M’HaRabbanim . Hebrew and German: Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek. Beitraege und Documente zur Geschichte des Karaeerthums und der karaeischen Literatur, by A. Neubauer, Leipzig, 1866. German title page, printed without a Hebrew title page.
* Bikoret L’Toldot HaKaraim , by Avraham Ber Gettlaber. Vilna, 1865. Flyleaf, German and Hebrew title pages.
* Masa B’Chatzi Ha’Ee Karim by Ephraim Dinard. Two parts, Warsaw, 1879-1880. 1897.
* Dod Mordechai, Teshuvot Chachamei HaKaraim L’She’elot Yaakov Trigland, al Mahut HaKaraim, V’Od Kamma Chiburim Ketanim . Vienna 1830. [4]. 36 leaves. There are apparently copies with an additional leaf.
* Siddur HaTefillot K’Minhag HaKaraim Chelek Rishon, Kollel Tefillot shel Chol V’Shabbatot HaShanah . Published by Chevrat Bachurei Ahavat HaTorah L’Yisrael HaKaraim B’Mitzrayim. [Cairo, 1946].
* Likkutei Kadmoniyot … HaSarid V’HaPalit M’Sifrei HaMitzvot HaRishonim L’Vnei Mikra by Avraham Eliyahu HaRichbi. St. Petersburg, 1903. XII, 211 pages, [3] plates.
* T he Rise of the Karaite Sect: a New Light on the Halakhah and Origin of the Karaites by Dr. Zvi Cahn. New York, 1937.
Overall fine condition.
Unique variant: Sefer HaMivchar V’Tov HaMischar , commentary on the Torah of Rabbeinu Aharon the first … son of Rabbeinu Yosef Rofeh. With the Tirat Kesef elucidation by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo son of Moshe [Lutzki]. Gozleve, printed at the home of Rabbi Shabtai Tgater. 1834(!).
Specifications: 10, 13-66 [should be: 68]; 71; 51 [should be: 50]; 32; [1] leaf, through the end of Bamidbar. With sketches. About 33 cm. Unique Features: This is a unique variant. The Bibliography of the Hebrew Book lists a copy with a title page from the Cincinnati library. It could be that this is an early trial printing of this work. It concludes at the end of Bamidbar, apparently no more was printed in this variant. Condition: Fine, aging stains. Disintegrated binding.
Sefer HaMivchar V’Tov HaMischar , commentary on the Torah of Rabbeinu Aharon HaRishon … son of Rabbeinu Yosef Rofeh. With the Tirat Kesef elucidation by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo son of Moshe [Lutzki]. Published by Chaverim publishers. Gozleve, 1835. First edition. Specifications: 10, 13-66 [should be: 68]; 71; 51 [should be: 50]; 32, [1]; 37, [3] leaves, missing the leaf after the title page with the chaverim chart. With sketches. About 33 cm. Unique Features: Karaite work on the chamishah chumshei Torah by Aharon son of Yosef, a 13th century Karaite. This is a fundamental, significant Karaite work. Very rare. Condition: Moderate. Worming holes. New, half-leather binding.
[ Sefer HaMivchar ] or [ Mivchar Yesharim ], commentary on the Early Prophets and the book of Isaiah, by [Aharon son of Yosef HaRishon, the Karaite]. Gözleve, 1836. Printed without title page.
Specifications : 16, 58, 22, 26, 8 leaves. 33 cm. The book was printed without a title page or details. “Approbations” are printed on the first page.
The book includes the Karaite commentary on the books of: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah and part of Jeremiah. It also includes a special composition against the rabbis, as well as other small Karaite essays, each given a special name. Most of the commentaries were written by Aharon son of Yosef the Karaite [who lived in the 13th century], printed here for the first time, and a portion by Avraham Pirkovich.
Condition: Very fine, except for dismantled binding.
Tzvah HaShamayim. Composition on the workings of the “heavenly army,” to understand the Rambam’s words regarding sanctification of the new moon, by Rabbi Rephael HaLevi. Amsterdam, 1756. First edition.
Specifications: [2] 38 leaves, 21 cm.
Background: Astronomy composition with many sketches. Leaves 33-38 contain tables. First edition of the commentary which was printed in a number of editions of the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah . With Rabbi Shaul Lowenstam of Amsterdam’s approbation, and more. As in most copies, missing [2] leaves at the end with the final compilation from the printer, which deals with a different topic.
Condition: Fine. Aging stains. Tape reinforcements on the last page. Simple binding.
Sefer Ilem and Sefer Maayan Ganim , by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo. Two parts. Odessa, 1864-1865. Portrait of the author and geometric sketches.
Specifications: Part I: Sefer Ilem . 1864. Portrait, 120, [2], XXIV, [1 page of sketches] pages.
Part II: Sefer Maayan Ganim . 123-213, [2 pages of sketches] pages.
The scientific works of the sage, doctor and kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo of Candia know as the Yashar of Candia, in a proofread edition. With the addition of the biography of the author, the wording of his tombstone and more.
Unique Features: With a portrait of the author, which does not appear in all the copies.
Condition: Fine, aging stains. Old semi-leather binding.
Book on “Traditional Jewish ceremonies and customs currently celebrated, with an addition touching upon the Karaite and Samaritan sects of our time” and “comparing Jewish rituals and the Christian doctrine.” Two parts. Third Edition. 1682.
Specifications : [48], 188, [4], 166, 12 pages. 12 cm.
Special Features: Book on Jewish customs and ceremonies, and their bearing on Christian doctrine. The majority is the translation of the book “Historia de ‘riti hebraici, vita ed osservanze de gl’Hebrei di questi tempi.” The translator, Richard Simon, wrote additional parts of the book under the pseudonym “Sieur de Simonville.”
Condition: Very fine. Original leather binding, gilt impressions on back binding.
Menasseh ben Israel’s Mission to Oliver Cromwell. New printing of the booklet which publicized Menasseh ben Israel in order to advance the return of Jews to England 1649-1656 with introduction and c omments by Lucien Wolf. London, 1901.
Specifications: 190, xxxviii pages, three portraits, 25 cm. High-quality paper.
Renewed scientific printing of the three essays written and printed by Menasseh ben Israel, The hope of Israel 1652, To his Highnesse the Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England, Scotland and Ireland ,Vindiciae Judaeorum. 1655. With three portraits of Menasseh ben Israel, each of which is protected with pergament paper.
Condition: Fine-very fine. Minimal aging stains. The bottoms of the pages were not cut at the press. Semi-parchment binding with embossing.
Five incunabula leaves illustrated with woodcuts – most with Jewish context, from Hartmann Schedel’s book [ Nuremberg Chronicle ]. Nuremberg, 1493. German.
Specifications: [5] leaves, thick paper. 44×30 cm. Minimal stains. Fine condition.
Description: A depiction of Solomon’s temple and Jerusalem, the Menorah from the Temple [two large almost full page woodcuts on both sides of the leaf], scenes from the book of Bereishit – Avraham and Malkitzedek, with soldiers in the form of medieval knights next to Avraham; Avraham leaving Sodom with the ruins of the city in the backdrop; the destroyed city of Sodom; figures depicting various nations from the book of Bereishit, Aram, Moab and others. Various figures of Jews in traditional dress. One leaf was hand-painted on both sides at the time of printing.
Condition: Varying conditions, fine-very fine. Some have aging stains, on one of the leaves there was a blemish with lack at the bottom of the leaf, the leaf was restored and the text completed by hand.
* Machzor L’Yom HaKippurim , Sephardic custom of the holy communities of Constantine and eastern and western countries and Italy . Instructions in Ladino. Vienna, 1867. [1], 76, 169 leaves.
* Siddur Kehillat Yaakov, prayer book for the entire year with laws and instructions in Ladino, along with Ethics of the Fathers with a Ladino commentary. Belgrade, 1904. 24, 464, 112 pages. Includes a supplement, p. 17-24, with rabbinical letters that were printed later and are not found in all copies.
* Selichot KiMinhag Sephardim . Selichot with Ladino. Vienna, 1880. [1] 49-49 leaves. Stamp of Rabbi Chaim David Sornaga [1842-1915], Jerusalem sage and Av Beit Din of the Sephardic community.
* Seder Tefillat Kol Peh per the Sephardic customs, with Ladino translation . Vienna, 1891.
* Machzor L’Shalosh Regalim per the Spanish customs, in the holy communities of Constantine, eastern and western Countries and Italy , with instructions in Ladino. Vienna, [1932]. [2] 227 leaves.
* Yismach Yisrael. Siddur with an expansive Ladino commentary by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Yisrael. Belgrade, [1896]. Missing three leaves at the end.
Condition: Various conditions, moderate-fine.
Originum Gallicarum liber. In quo Veteris & Nobilissimae Gallorum gentis origines, antiquitates, mores, lingua & alia eruuntur & illustrantur, by Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn. Amsterdam, 1654.
Specifications: Section one: [12] 116 pages. 20 cm. Latin with words in Hebrew. Very rare book.
Study of ancient languages, the Gallo-Celtic language, with comparisons to Hebrew. The author, Marcus Zuerius von Boxhorn was a Dutch scholar and professor who studied the connection between ancient languages.
Condition: Fine. The title page is blemished and stained and taped for reinforcement. New binding.
Orden de los Cinco Anyuo s, [ Order of Prayer for the Five Fasts ], by Yitzchak Di Cordova. Amsterdam, 1724. Especially rare book.
Specifications : 356 pages, 15 cm. Pages 38-40 between parts of the book were not printed. The entire book is in Spanish.
Background: The book was printed for Spanish Jews who returned to Judaism and did not know Hebrew.
Unique Features: Especially rare book. The National Library contains a copy from the Valmadonna Trust Library.
Condition: Very fine. Aging stains. Blemished antique leather binding.
Tractate Avodah Zarah, first chapter, with Latin translation. Avoda Sara, Tractatus Talmudici S ive De Idololatria … Latine redditum et necessariis annotationibum , illustratum A Georg. Eliezer Edzardo. Hamburg, 1705.
Specifications: 346, [6] pages. Approximately 20 cm. The text of the Talmud in Hebrew with a comprehensive commentary and notes in Latin. The notes also address comments of Talmudic commentators.
The translator Georg Eliezer Edzardo [1661-1737] was a Lutheran theologian and missionary, and a professor of history and Greek at Hamburg University. Before us is the translation of the first chapter, the translation of the second chapter was printed five years later.
Condition: Fine condition. Aging stains.
Baba Kama from Tractate Nezikin. De Legibus Ebraeorum forensibus … ex Ebraeorum pandectis versus & commentariis illustratus: per Constantinum L’Empereur ab Opwyck. Baba Kama with a Latin translation. Leiden, 1637.
Specifications: [47] 306 pages, paper, height 19 cm. The mishnah with Latin translation in facing columns, followed by a summary of the Gemara in Latin. With a long introduction from the translator also known as Constantine L’Empereur (1591-1648) who was a professor of Hebrew at Leiden University.
Refer to: Fuchs, List of Books Printed in Holland 51.
Condition: Fine-very fine condition. Slight tear on the corner of the title page with no damage to text. Parchment binding.
Otzar Lashon HaKodesh . Concordance on the Torah, Prophets and Writings by Yosef ben Yaakov Alsari, “Julius Fuerst.” Leipzig, 1840. Impressive volume.
Specifications: XII, 1428 pages, 35 cm. Hebrew title page and Latin title page. Quality paper.
Monumental work by linguist and researcher of Hebrew and Aramaic and the connection between Hebrew and ancient languages. The first work of its kind, authored by a Jewish researcher. The author, Yosef ben Yaakov Alsari, was born in [1805] in Poland to a Torah scholar who was the community preacher. He moved to Berlin, where he studied the Hebrew language and other subjects related to Jewish history. He published extensively. He was a professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages at the University of Leipzig. His name among researchers was “Julius Fuerst.” This work was the first of its kind in the world of scientific research and is uncommonly rare. There are other known linguistic studies such as the one by Mandelkorn, however this work that preceded them all, is unknown. It seems that only a few copies were printed of this giant work. This is the only complete edition. [It was reprinted in the 20th century, without all the supplements contained in this edition.]
Condition: Very fine. Original half-leather binding.
Irenodia Cantabrigiensis, ob paciferum serenissimi Regis Caroli è Scotia. Reditumense Novembri, 1641. Cambridge, England 1641.
Specifications: [1] page, [90] leaves. Languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon and Hebrew. Not found in the National Library.
Charles I (1600-1649) was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was an absolute ruler who had many conflicts with the parliament. The parliament refused his request to increase taxes and criticized the religious reforms that he wished to make in the church. This tension increased and triggered violence and the eruption of a rebellion in Ireland at the end of 1641. When both the king and the parliament demanded control of the army, the king tried to imprison the leaders of the parliament which led to civil war. The king was exiled by the parliamentary forces, and was tried and executed at the start of 1649. This is a compilation of poems in honor of the king, collected when the legitimacy of his rule was undermined, on the eve of the outbreak of the civil war.
Condition: Very fine condition.
Otzar Lashon HaKodesh . Thesaurus linguæ sanctæ . Concordance in Latin by Gulielmo Robertson. London, 1680.
Specifications: [14], 1328 pages, 23.5 cm.
Each page has a border that is divided into two columns. The Hebrew letters are vowelized.
Condition: Very fine. Original, chafed leather binding.
Original photograph by photographer Tzadok Bassan, featuring Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the rabbis and students of Talmud Torah and Yeshiva Etz Chaim, when Etz Chaim was located in “Churvah”courtyard in the Old City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, early 20th century.
Specifications : [1] photograph. 22×27 cm. Pasted onto cardboard, which serves as the picture’s frame.
Special Features: The Jerusalem photographer Tzadok Bassan integrated the picture before us from several photographs showing Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the rabbis and the many students of the Yeshivat Etz Chaim institutions, on a backdrop of the Churvah courtyard in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Above Rabbi Shmuel Salant’s picture a note was added: “This picture was made for the benefit of Etz Chaim only, and no individual or institution has permission to copy it.” Above and below the picture is the caption: “תמונת האי סבא קדישא זקן הרבנים הגאון האמתי ציס”ע מרן רבנו שמואל סלאנט שליט”א. ה”ה ראש הרבנים לק”ק אשכנזים ונשיא התלמוד תורה הכללית והישיבה הציבורית עץ חיים בירושלים”. The photograph was taken in Rabbi Salant’s old age, apparently close to the year he passed away.
Condition: Very fine. The photograph is whole, and the subjects are sharp and clear. There are slight flaws in the outer black casing surrounding the photograph, and tears in the cardboard frame’s corners.
Fifteen postcards depicting the Rothschild family as well as houses, streets and sites related to them. Various publishers. 1900-1920.
Highlights: a postcard with interior and exterior views of the Rothschilds’ home [including the private synagogue] in Frankfurt; the Rothschild Hospital in Paris; a rare postcard with a front view of the Rothschild family home in Frankfurt, and the portraits of the family’s parents – James Mayer de Rothschild, Betty Salomon de Rothschild and their five children [among them Baron James]; the family’s vacation house; a number of photographed postcards [different from each other] depicting the front of the family home in Frankfurt; two postcards showing the Rothschild Hospital [one was mailed in 1910]; two postcards with the family’s father, James Mayer de Rothschild’s portrait, and the family home in the background [one of which was sent by mail in 1906]; and two postcards showing the Rothschild castle in Geneva – one photo postcard and the other a lithograph Gruss aus souvenir postcard [undivided, sent by mail in 1900], and more.
Six were sent by mail, three are not divided [prior to 1905]. Overall fine -very fine condition.
* Tehillim with Ladino translation. Vienna, 1822.
Specifications: 104, [2] leaves, 18 cm, with prayers preceding and upon completion of the Psalms, for weekdays, Shabbat and Yom Tov, and the prayer for livelihood. Printed supplication on page 104, with the statement that whoever recites this prayer will be saved from demons. Yaari Ladino 6.
* Shir HaShirim with Targum Yonatan and a commentary in Spanish. Venice, 1804.
Specifications: 69 leaves, approx. 16 cm. Missing last leaf, similar to two copies in the National Library which are also missing leaves Yaari Ladino 18.
* Il Libro di los Salmus Truzlado in La Lingua Ispaniiola [Tehillim. Translated into Spanish] Ladino only. Constantinople, 1909.
Specifications: [1] leaf, 217 pages, 15 cm. A. Yaari writes that the book was published by HaMission, refer to: HaDefus HaIvri B’Kushta 645.
Condition: Moderate. Minor tears.
The Holy Land. David Roberts. Travelogue by the renowned British artist David Roberts. With hundreds of paintings. Six parts in three volumes. London, 1855-1856. Day & Son. First edition. One volume was added from a different set.
Specifications: 250 plates. 30 cm. Thick, quality paper. Brown-black and white lithograph photographs.
Painted dedication on parchment preceding the title page. Lithograph photograph portrait of the author on the title page of the first volume. Impressive work in its beauty.
As is well known, Roberts’ original pictures were printed by lithograph, and intentionally destroyed in 1853 to negate any possibility of this edition being reproduced in its original form. Before us is the first edition of the reduced format of this exceptional book, considered one of the most important and magnificent printed works of the 19th century.
The plates are printed here as a photographed reproduction of the original lithographs in a reduced size.
David Roberts (1796-1864) was a Scottish painter. He was the first British painter who made and independent journey to the Land of Israel, in 1838-1839, an he documented the journey in writing and painting.
Condition: Fine. Aging stains. Gilt page cuts. Taped reinforcements on some leaves to the binding. Original red leather bindings.
Pesher Davar , commentary on the book of Job written by one of the contemporary scholars [Zev Wolf of Dessau]. Berlin, 1777. Only edition.
Specifications: [2], 35; 1 [3] leaves, 20 cm. With the text of the book of Job.
The author is Zev Wolf of Dessau, 1751-1784. Approbations from Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levin with other signatories at the beginning of the book, as well as from Rabbi Simchah Ashkenazi and Rabbi Shaul Levin. An approbation from Moses Mendelssohn and an approbation with a poem from Naftali Hertz Weisel are on the last page.
Unique Features: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Hebrew book in which Moses Mendelssohn is mentioned. Uncommon book.
Condition: Fine. Aging stains.
Shirei Tiferet , a compilation of eighteen songs, chronicling Hash-m’s glory and strength, and the wonders He did for our forefathers, by delivering them out of the land of Egypt and bringing them to Mount Sinai. By Naftali Hartwig Wessely. Prague 1809.
Specifications : [13], 2-37, 35, 39-40, [9], 2-3, 3, 5-31, 25, 33-39, 9, 41-56, [11], 2-60, [12], 2-62, [20], 2-64, [14] leaves, paper. 19 cm.
Naftali Hartwig Wessely (1725-1805) one of the first of the “enlightenment,” linguist, writer and poet. Born in Hamburg, and raised in Copenhagen, he studied Talmud and poskim in yeshivas, and continued on to study Hebrew grammar. He was interested in mathematics and science, history and foreign languages. He began to engage in commerce and banking, and worked in a bank in Amsterdam. In 1769, he left Amsterdam and returned to Copenhagen. His essay, ” Divrei Shalom VeEmet ” (“Words of Peace and Truth”), sparked a heated controversy between the early maskilim and the rabbis of European communities because he presented a new scale of values in which the value of “man” preceded the value of “Jew.”
Unique Features: The songs we have before us, “Shirei Tiferet,” have influenced several generations of poets after the author, and some researchers view it as the beginning of modern Hebrew literature.
Condition: Very fine condition, except for two leaves which were cut lengthwise. Few slight aging stains. Original leather binding, gilt imprint on back binding.
Talmud Torah BaOdessa, a paper extolling the Odessa Talmud Torah, and expressing amazement of the Children of Israel’s characteristic inclination to acquire and transmit knowledge. By Nikolai Pirogov, superintendent of New Russian and Kiev school districts. Translation and introduction by Aleksander Tzederbaum. Odessa, 1858.
Unique Features: Appreciation and criticism of Jewish education in Odessa’s Talmud Torah by the Commissioner of Education on behalf of Russian authorities, Dr. Nikolai Pirogov. The translator, Aleksander Tzederbaum, added a long introduction in which he criticized corrupt educational approaches, struggles within the community, and dysfunction within the charity system. His proposed solution to the situation was to appoint “leaders with acumen in Torah and secular proceedings, who will find a way appropriate and acceptable to all, to whom the government officials will turn, and whose sound advice will cause them to act favorably … to improve His People Israel’s situation in Russia.”
Nikolai Pirogov (1810-1881) was a physician, professor at the University of Tartu, and head of the Department of Surgery at the Academy of Medical Sciences in St. Petersburg. He was responsible for training military doctors, developed and imparted new medical methods in emergency medicine in general and in the surgical system in particular, and performed over 10,000 operations. In 1847 he was appointed a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In his meeting with Czar Alexander II, he mentioned failures in the wounded’s treatment in the besieged city Sebastopol, and as a result was exiled from the capital and appointed to an educational position in the Kiev region. The opposition to the educational reforms he sought to implement led to his dismissal a few years later.
Condition: Very fine. Few aging stains on title page.
