Nachalat Shivah – foundational book for laws of ketubot and gittin (marriage and divorce contracts) including most contract versions used among Jews, together with relevant halachahs, by Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi, disciple of the Ta”z and rabbi of the communities in Halberstam, Bamberg and Steinbach. “Aemstelredamme” [Amsterdam] with year detail 1767 appears on the title page. This is a copy of the first edition. This variant contains the chronogram “משיח בן דוד בא” which does not appear in all copies. With the emissary Rabbi Yehosef Schwartz’s owner’s signature, and the owner’s notation of the Av Beit Din of Wallerstein, Rabbi Bunim Rapoport: “שייך להרב בונים רפאפורט.” Several (approximately 6) handwritten glosses. The book was popular and practical among scribes, judges and contract writers in Ashkenaz and Poland, to the extent that (like other practical halachic works) a book called Kitzur Nachalat Shivah was written. Rabbi Asher Anschel Greenwald writes in his introduction to Kitzur Nachalat Shivah with respect to its wide distribution that Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi’s book “was accepted across the entire Jewish diaspora, and writers of marriage and engagement contracts cannot manage without it.” Rabbi Yehosef Schwartz [1805-1865] was an emissary, Talmudic scholar, geographer, artist and one of the first researchers of the Land of Israel in the modern era. He sketched the map of the Land of Israel in 1829 in Hebrew and in German. This map was used by historians and geographers of his period. He also marked the halachic boundaries for topics such as Land-of-Israel-dependent mitzvahs on this map. Most of these boundaries are accepted halachically to this day. He started a difficult and dangerous 2-year journey to the Land of Israel at the age of 26. He arrived at the Jaffa port in 1833 and settled in Jerusalem, where he lived in the Moslem quarter, assimilated into his environment and dressed as the Sephardic Jerusalemites. He is counted among the founders of the Menachem Tziyon synagogue in the Churvah courtyard in the Jewish quarter. He authored eight books. The most important of them, Tevuat HaAretz, was translated into English and into German, and some parts of it were used as textbook material for Jewish schools in Germany. It was also honored by the Emperor of Austria. Rabbi Bunim Rapoport [d. 1816] was Av Beit Din of Wallerstein, Würzburg and other communities. He was a great gaon, famous in his own time. He authored Chiddushei Rashba”tz) Fürth, 1839, and Parperat Rashba”tz. He was both scholarly and wealthy, and distributed his books to Torah scholars free of charge (see Otzar Rabbanim 19762). 99, [1] leaf. Mispaginated and possibly lacking individual leaves in the middle of the book. 19 cm. Fine condition. Stains. Professional restoration to the title page and to several other leaves. New binding. DescriptiFürth, 1839 DescriptiWürzburg and other communities.