The Compelling Story Behind the Most Important Hebrew Book Ever Printed

The Compelling Story Behind the Most Important Hebrew Book Ever Printed

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sukkah, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1526. Estimate $50,000–70,000.

  Born into a Christian merchant family in Antwerp around the year 1483, Daniel Bomberg moved to Venice early in the 16th century.

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  Pirkei Avot, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1526. Estimate $20,000–30,000.

  By 1515 he had begun publishing Hebrew books.
  
  

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shevu‘ot, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1526. Estimate $50,000–70,000.

  In the course of only slightly more than three decades, he went on to produce an amazing corpus of over 220 beautifully printed works.

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Mo‘ed Katan, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1521. Estimate $35,000–50,000.

  This made him the first printer of all-Hebrew books in Venice and the first non-Jew anywhere to issue a wide range of Hebrew titles.

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  Tractate Eduyyot, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1521. Estimate $20,000–30,000.

  Perhaps the most significant of these was the first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud, which appeared at his press from 1519/20 to 1523.

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Menahot, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, July-August 1522. Estimate $12,000–18,000.

  This monumental accomplishment is arguably the single most momentous event in the annals of Hebrew printing.

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hullin, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1521. Estimate $70,000–90,000.

  This would earn Bomberg permanent standing among the most important Hebrew publishers of all time.

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesahim, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, [1519–1520]. Estimate $120,000–160,000.

  Highlights from the current selection of Bomberg tractates include a copy of Pesahim (1519-1520), housed in a sixteenth-century (near-contemporary) binding as well as Hullin (1521), one of the rarest of Bomberg treatises.

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  Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Niddah, Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1520. Estimate $12,000–18,000.

  Another important highlight is the Niddah (1520), with a manuscript inscription noting that the volume was part of a complete set of the Bomberg Talmud donated on Rosh Hashanah 1550 to the beit midrash (study house) for the poor in Reggio.

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    Important Judaica, including a Distinguished Private Collection

    19 December 2018 | 10:00 AM EST | New York

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    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

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