Het algemeen groot historisch, oordeelkundig, chronologisch, geografisch, en letterlyk naam- en woord-boek, by Augustin Calmet. Leiden: Samuel Luchtmans / Amsterdam: De Wetsteins en Smith, 1725, 1727, 1731. Four parts in three volumes. Dutch and some Hebrew.
Dutch edition of Augustin Calmet's dictionary of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Accompanied by dozens of engraved plates and seven maps (including maps of Palestine, a map of the Middle east showing the location of the Garden of Eden, a map of the old world, and more).
A number of the engravings depict Jewish ceremonies and customs, various costumes, biblical figures and scenes and views of Palestine. Including an engraving depicting the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, an engraving depicting the bringing of the first fruit to the Temple, engravings depicting Noah's Ark, engravings depicting execution methods and many more engravings on a variety of themes.
Part I: [14] leaves, 92, 143, 321, 40, 19 pp + [48] plates; Part II: [2] leaves, 604 pp, [3] leaves, 230 pp + [64] plates; Parts III & IV: [10] leaves, 392 pp, [1], 393-924 pp, [12] leaves + [51] plates. Approx. 40 cm. Possibly missing one or two plates. Good condition. Stains. Several tears and minor blemishes. Inked stamps to title pages. One plate detached. Elegant vellum-covered bindings, gilt-embossed, damaged and worn. Mold to one binding.

Neue Franckfurter Jüdische Kleider-Ordnung [The New Frankfurt Clothing Regulations], by Johann Jacob Schudt. Frankfurt am Main, 1716. Yiddish and German, with some Hebrew.
Forty regulations against luxuries, announced in the two synagogues of the Frankfurt am Main community, backed by the rabbi and the community leaders, on 17th Tammuz 1715, valid for the next twenty years.
This work is the only source documenting these regulations against luxury in the Frankfurt am Main community. Thanks to the author, Johann Jacob Schudt, who published them together with his German translation and commentary they have been documented for posterity (Schudt reprinted this work as an addendum to his book Jüdische Merckwürdigkeiten, Frankfurt 1718, vol. IV, cont. 3, pp. 81-106 – see item 86). This work is a rich source of information on the way of life of the Jewish communities in Germany in that time. The regulations and notes disclose much information on the ways of the Frankfurt Jews, their manner of dress, popular dishes, their language and various institutions.
The regulations relate to the types of food served at celebrations and their cost, the amount of people one is allowed to invite, the presents sent and the amount spent on them, the types of clothing and jewelry which are prohibited, and the like, and the various punishments for those who transgress the regulations (the translation below is based on Prager, see below): "At a wedding… music shall not be played later than midnight, any band found playing later will not be employed for a full year" (regulation 30); "No maid… shall wear silk clothing at all… whoever is found transgressing this will immediately be banished from our community" (regulation 32); "On Friday night, and on Shabbat between Mincha and Arvit, unmarried girls are not allowed to stroll in groups in the woods or on the street, with a fine of 20 Reichstaler. Community workers will be stationed to supervise this, and they will be allowed to throw garbage on the girls" (regulation 33); "Blond or white wigs are banned" (in those times, it was fashionable for men to wear wigs; regulation 36); "No Bar Mitzva boy shall come up to the Torah reading with a wig" (regulation 37).
Frontispiece engraving (by Peter Fehr, 1681-1740) depicts three scenes related to the book, with explanatory captions in German: "Issuing the Jewish regulations" – meeting of the community leaders discussing the regulations; "Here the bride goes in opulence"; "Spending the Vacht-Nacht in celebration" – the celebration of the night preceding the Brit. In the upper illustration, the Hebrew inscription "Clothing order" appears in a square frame.
[1], 14, 17-62 pp (mispagination – the numbers 15-16 are skipped), 16.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains and wear. Title page wider than other leaves and folded. Marginal damage to frontispiece engraving, slightly affecting illustration, professionally restored. New leather binding.
The contents of the book were partially published over the years in various publications. Recently, the Yiddish regulations were published with Hebrew translation and expansion for the first time by R. Yosef Prager, Yerushaseinu, V (2011), pp. 265-299.
The top part of the frontispiece engraving depicts a meeting of 13 community leaders. R. Prager, in his aforementioned essay, conjectures that the man seen sitting in the middle, in front of an open book, is the rabbi of Frankfurt in those days, R. Avraham Broda, whose portrait is not known from any other source. It is however more likely that this is the community scribe, recording the regulations during the course of the discussions.

A New Universal History of the Religious Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Whole World, or A Complete and Impartial View of all the Religions, by William Hurd. Printed for Alexander Hogg, London, [1780?]. English.
Willian Hurd's study of the ceremonies and customs of various religions, with 60 engraved plates and an engraved frontispiece.
Hurd covers, among other things, the religious customs of the Jews, the Japanese and the Native Americans. The chapter dealing with the Jews surveys the principles of Judaism and is accompanied by fine engraved plates depicting the raising of the Torah scroll, the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah, the search for leavened bread, a Jewish Portuguese wedding and more.
IV, [3], 6-122, 125-704 (p. 704 misnumbered 1704), XII, [4] pp + [61] engraved plates. 36 cm. Good condition. Stains to several leaves (engraved plates mostly unaffected). Wormholes, mostly small (slightly affecting text on last pages). Leather-covered binding, spine gilt-embossed, slightly damaged. Tears along spine and its edges. Front board partly detached.

Scènes de la Vie Juive. Dessinés d’après nature par B. Picart [Scenes of Jewish Life… by B. Picart]. Paris: Libraire A. Durlache, 1884. French.
Portfolio with sixteen prints (heliogravures) by Paul Dujardin, after engravings by Bernard Picart, depicting various Jewish customs – a Jewish wedding, the feast of the Passover Seder, Brit Milah, the raising of the Torah Scroll, celebrations of Simchat Torah, and more. Title page with Picart's portrait.
The prints are placed in an elegant, gilt embossed portfolio.
[1] title plate and [16] heliogravures, 50 cm. Good condition. Stains and creases to several plates (mainly to margins). Small closed tears along edges and an open tear to corner of title plate. Blemishes and wear to portfolio.