Auction of Judaica focusing on printed books and handwritten documents and other manuscripts. Divided into categories as follows:
Religious Hebrew books take up the first third of the auction. Highlights are: The first edition of two parts of the Shulchan Aruch (Venice, 1565, Lots 37 and 38) a large fragment of the Tanach Constantinople, 1522 (lot 5); and several Zhitomir / Slavita imprints.
Also appearing are Rabbinic manuscripts and letters from such luminaries as Yehuda Aszod (lot 57); Avraham Azulai (lot 73); Reuven ibn Yahya (lot 78); Moshe Provencal (lot 87); Ya’akov Toledano (lot 90), etc.
The personal silver Kiddush cup of the Ribnitzer Rebbe (lot 56) will of course attract much attention.
The sale highlight is lot 94: An exceptional illuminated manuscript that has never before appeared at public auction. A Passover Hagadah created by the celebrated artistic-scribe Eliezer Sussman Mezeritsch, Frankfurt, 1833.
The next section (lots 108-178) represents Judaica stemming from across the globe, including Australia, Brazil, China, the German-speaking lands, Gibraltar, Poland, Russia, etc. Also included is much on Holy Land travel, the Land of Israel and Zionism.
The section of Antisemitica / Holocaust includes an exceptional illuminated manuscript (lot 208) devoted to the Polish Jews of Częstochowa. Also of importance is a recently uncovered diary from 1945 of a young Hungarian Jewess who survived Auschwitz (lot 205); and a large archive of personal documents of a German-Jewish doctor who spent the years 1939-47 in Shanghai.
General Judaica (lots 209-245) includes the first edition of Bartolocci’s first ever bibliography of Hebrew books (Rome, 1675, lot 209); a unique copy of the Edgardo Mortara’s autobiography, personally signed by him (lot 226); and the first edition of one of the rarest works of Spanish-Jewish literature, Moses Almosnino’s Extremos y Grandezas de Constantinopla (Madrid, 1638, lot 231).
The penultimate section of the sale (lot 241-267) are illustrated books and graphic art including several fine books from the magnificent hand of Arthur Szyk, including two original drawings by him (lots 258, 259).
The final section of the sale are fine books that stem from the library of the late Charles Wuorinen, being English & Continental Early Printed Books (lots 268-291).
Utilize the Search-bar to locate books of any specificity.
For any and all inquiries relating to bidding please contact Shaya Kestenbaum: jack@kestenbaum.net.
LOT 28:
(HAGADAH). The Haggadah. Executed by Arthur Szyk. ...
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Sold for: $14,000
Start price:
$
10,000
Estimated price :
$15,000 - $25,000
Buyer's Premium: 25%
sales tax: 8.875%
On the full lot's price and commission
Users from foreign countries may be exempted from tax payments, according to the relevant tax regulations
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(HAGADAH).
The Haggadah. Executed by Arthur Szyk. Edited by Cecil Roth.
Printed Entirely on Vellum. One of 125 Numbered Copies issued for the United States.
Richly illustrated in color by Arthur Szyk.
Full- and half-page color half-tone reproductions of compositions by Szyk, including numerous decorative initials, text ornaments and many small vignettes. Pictorial doublures on silk.
Text in Hebrew and English printed in black and sepia. Signed by the artist and editor.
Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe: Royal blue morocco, gilt- tooled pictorial inlay. Housed in original matching solander-case (extremities bumped), velvet interior. Folio.
Yudlov 3861.
London, Beaconsfield Press, 1939.
The most sublime of all Passover Hagadahs.
Dedicated to King George VI of England, Szyk’s great illuminated masterpiece is a stunning work of the Book-Arts, conceived with extraordinarily high production values.
“The Times Literary Supplement recognized Szyk’s masterpiece as one of the most beautiful works ever produced by human hands. When one considers the brilliant multi-layers not only of illumination and color, but of themes and sub-themes, Szyk’s Haggadah stands among Hebrew illuminated manuscripts in a moment in time, for all time, in a class by itself.”
See I. Ungar, Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk (1998) p. 15. See also J.P. Ansell, Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole (2004) pp. 96-100.
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