Three Volumes on Liturgical, Calendrical, Philosophical, and Other Topics, [19th century]

1. Commentary on the Seder Avodah, Joseph ben Joseph Nahmias, [19th century]

Fols. 1r-8v: A modern copy of the commentary by Joseph ben Joseph Nahmias (Spain, fourteenth century) on the Seder Avodah liturgy recited on Yom Kippur, Attah Konanta on the order of the Temple service for the Day of Atonement. The only other copy of this commentary is found in Montefiore ms. 50, from which this manuscript may have been copied. Edited by M.A. Bamberger from both Montefiore manuscripts in JJLG, 9-10 (1908-1912).

Fol. 9: A modern copy of a letter from Meir Crescas to Isaac (Profet) ben Meir Duran (Spain, fourteenth-fifteenth century) on philosophical matters, probably copied from the only other complete copy of this letter, Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, Cod. hebr. 201. Edited from the Vienna manuscript at the end of Duran’s Ma’aseh Efod (Vienna, 1865).

Fols. 9v-10v: A modern copy of Profet Duran’s letter to Shealtiel Gracian on the conjunction, probably copied from the same Vienna manuscript.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing this manuscript.

Provenance

Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 147)

Physical Description

10 leaves on paper, 8 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 223 x 133 mm, written in pseudo-Sephardic (Rashi) script in brown ink; leaves mounted on guards. Black library buckram.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 262)

2. Sefer ha-Ibbur, Abraham ibn Ezra Paris, 1868

Sefer ha-Ibbur is a treatise on the calendar by Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164), copied by Ber Goldberg. In his colophon, Goldberg notes that he made this copy in Paris in 1868 from a copy that had been made in Oxford in 1852 (most likely transcribed from Ms Bodley Or. 161). This copy was probably made for Solomon Halberstam for use in the edition he prepared (Lyck, 1871). Halberstam added notes in the margins of this copy.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing this manuscript.

Provenance

Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 171)

Physical Description

[1], 61 = 62 pages, 7 ¾ x 6 inches; 195 x 150 mm, written in black ink in semi-cursive Ashkenazic script, original foliation in ink. Paper wrapper.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 420)

3. Collection of Various Texts, [19th century]

Fols. 1r-16v: Aggadat Arba Kosot, a poem by Solomon Pappenheim (Germany, 1740-1813). Copied from the Berlin, 1809 edition.

Fols. 17r-28v: Iggeret Teman (Epistle to Yemen) by Moses ben Maimon. Translated from the Arabic by Samuel ibn Tibbon. The first edition was published in Vienna, 1874.

Fols. 29r-31v: Prayer for rain, composed in Leghorn in 1755[?]

Fols. 32r-43v: Milhamot ha-Shem, Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon's defense of his father's philosophical writings from the anti-Maimonideans. The first edition was published in Vilna, 1821.

Fols. 45r-48v: Ephrem the Syrian’s verses on learning in Hebrew transcription.

Fols. 49r-59v: Collection of poems by medieval Hebrew poets such as Judah ha-Levi, Solomon ibn Gabirol and Abraham ibn Ezra and by nineteenth-century poets such as Abraham di Colonia, and [Jacob Raphael?] Saraval of Amsterdam and a poem by Elia Aaron Lattes (rabbi in Venice, d. 1839) in honour of David Joseph Sinzheim, the Chief Rabbi of France. On fols. 58r-59v: Mussar Haskel ethical poem by Hai Gaon.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing this manuscript.

Provenance

Mordecai Samuel Ghirondi — Samuel David Luzzatto — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 230)

Physical Description

59 leaves, 6 ½ x 4 ¾ inches; 166 x 121 mm, written in various script, modern foliation in pencil; several leaves reinforced along inner margin, library stamp on first leaf. Library buckram.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 493)