Three Historical and Polemical Treatises, [19th century]

1. Ketav Tamim, Moses ben Hisdai Taku, [19th century]

Ketav Tamim is a polemical work by Moses ben Hisdai Taku (early thirteenth century) against the Jewish theologians of his time. Only a small part of the work has survived and it is preserved in Ms. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, hèb. 711, from which this manuscript was copied by Ber Goldberg.

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

Provenance

Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 20)

Physical Description

24 leaves on paper (fols. 10-11, 17v, 20v and 21r blank), 8 ¾ x 6 ¾ inches; 222 x 172 mm, written in Ashkenazic script in black-brown ink; large inkstain on fol. 13. Brown wrappers.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 300); partly edited by R. Kirchheim in Ozar Nehmad, 3 (1860), pp. 58-99; see also J. Dan, in Maimonidean Studies 3 (1992-3), pp. 41-47.

2. Letters on the Maimonidean Controversy, [19th century]

This volume contains modern copies of various letters dealing with the Maimonidean Controversy. They include: Iggeret ha-Ramban (the letter by Nahmanides in support of Maimonides); the exchange of letters between Meir ben Todros ha-Levi and Aaron ben Meshullam; a letter from David ha-Nasi.

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

Provenance

Hen Tov [Zvi Hirsch Edelman], a nineteenth-century scholar and copyist — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 154 and notes on front flyleaf)

Physical Description

4, 13 = 17 leaves on paper, consisting of 2 manuscripts of different sizes bound together, 9 x 6 7/8 inches; 230 x 174 mm, and 11 ½ x 8 5/8 inches; 291 x 220 mm, written in various Ashkenazi cursive scripts, some marginal stains, modern foliation in pencil; library stamp. Library buckram.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 461); published by Halberstam in Jeshurun, vol. 8.

3. Chronicles of the Persecutions of 1096, 1146, and 1241, Eliezer ben Nathan, [19th century]

This text relates the chronicles of the history of the persecutions in 1096 and 1146 by Eliezer ben Nathan (fols. 1v-4v), Sefer ha-Zekhirah by Ephraim of Bonn (fols. 5r-7r), names of the martyrs of Worms in 1096 (fols. 10r-13r) and of Frankfurt in 1241 (fol. 12v).

Between fols. 11 and 12 is appended a letter from Father Barges to Israel Goldblum regretting that he does not know any of the Cardinals in the Vatican and consequently cannot offer him a letter of reference.

This text was copied by Eliezer Sussmann Mezeritch from a manuscript that Raphael Kirchheim (1804–1889), a scholar and author from Frankfurt, had copied from a manuscript in the possession of Jacob Bernays of Hamburg. Eliezer wrote multiple copies of this manuscript. The other copies are now in Moscow, Ms. Guenzburg 1395 and Amsterdam, University Library, Ms. Rosenthaliana 50. The Bernays manuscript, an eighteenth-century copy, was given to the Rabbinical Seminary in Breslau (MS 171) and is now in the Yale University Library.

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

Provenance

Israel Isser Goldblum, Rome, 1888 (inscriptions on flyleaf and fol. 1r) — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 249).

Physical Description

12 leaves on paper, 7 7/8 x 6 1/8 inches; 201 x 157 mm, written in Rashi-type script, modern foliation in pencil, a 2-page letter with integral address leaf bound in; repaired tears in upper margin. Library buckram.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 475)