La-Menatzeah Shir Mizmor be-Yom Huledet ha-Keisar ve-ha-Melekh Napoleon ha-Rishon (Poem in Honor of the Birthday of the Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte), Mazal Tov (Buonaventura) Modena, Paris: Stamperia Imperiale, 1806

10 pages (8 x 5 in.; 205 x 125 mm). Printed on blue paper, in Hebrew and Italian on facing pages. Uncut; edges very lightly soiled. Marbled endpapers. Modern green morocco.

Vinograd, Paris 100; Szajkowski, 208.

In April of 1806, the French Emperor Napoleon convened an “Assembly of Jewish Notables” to consider a set of 12 questions that would determine the civic status of the Jews. After deliberating for several months and adopting answers to the questions posed by the Emperor, the Assembly declared that the 15th of August, Napoleon’s birthday, should be celebrated with “prayers, thanksgiving, and all the demonstrations of pure and lively joy.” Their own celebrations included these Hebrew and French verses, written by Mazal Tov (Buonaventura) Modena, the deputy from Panaro (in Modena), at the behest of Abraham Furtado of Bordeaux, the president of the Assembly.