Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
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Three tales of the Brothers Grimm, translated to Yiddish, with illustrations by Joseph Chaikov. Cover design and headings by Chaikov.
Rare.
47 pp., approx. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Marginal tear to first leaf (leaf partially detached). Open tear to front cover. Minor tear to spine.
1. портрет натана альтмана ["Nathan Altman's Portrait"], by Abram Efros. Moscow: Шиповник, 1922. Russian.
Brief monograph on the output of the Russian-Jewish avant-garde artist Nathan Altman (Натан Исаевич Альтман, 1889-1970), with pictures representing several of his works. An illustration by Altman (a reproduction, reduced in size, of a painting from the series "Judische Graphik" – "Jewish Graphics") appears on the front cover.
101, [3] pp., 18.5 cm. Good condition. One gathering detached. Loose leaves. Minor stains. Cover partly detached, with tears (including some open tears, not affecting print) to edges. Spine torn, mended (non-professionally) with strips of adhesive tape. Notation in red pencil on back cover.
2. S. Chekhonin, by Abram Efros and Nikolay Punin. Moscow-Leningrad: State Press, [ca. 1924]. English.
Abram Markovich Efros (1888-1954) and Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) dealing with the life and work of the multi-disciplinary Russian artist and designer Sergey Chekhonin (Сергей Васильевич Чехонин, 1878-1936). With 12 plates (on paper of varying thickness; some in color), as well as numerous in-text illustrations, featuring Chekhonin's works: paintings, book illustrations, porcelain plates, stamps, currency bills, bookplates, and more.
The book was published in Russian, French, German, and English.
See: Nina Gurianova et al., "The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934," exhibition catalogue, MoMA, New York, 2002, Item No. 530.
104, [2] pp. + [12] plates, 30 cm. Good condition. Stains. Several leaves and plates detached. Cover detached. Tears (including some open tears, not affecting print) to cover and spine. Notation in blue pencil on back cover.
С. Чехонин ["S. Chekhonin"], by Abram Efros and Nikolay Punin. Moscow-Petrograd: Государственное Издательство [State Publisher], [ca. 1924]. Russian.
Two articles by Abram Markovich Efros (1888-1954) and Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) dealing with the life and work of the multi-disciplinary Russian artist and designer Sergey Chekhonin (1878-1936). With 12 plates (on paper of varying thickness; some in color), as well as numerous in-text illustrations, featuring Chekhonin's works: paintings, book illustrations, porcelain plates, stamps, currency bills, bookplates, and more.
Illustrated cover.
In addition to the Russian edition, the book was published in French, German, and English.
See: Nina Gurianova et al., "The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934," exhibition catalogue, MoMA, New York, 2002, Item No. 530.
112, [1] pp. + [12] plates., 29 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains (numerous stains to cover). Notation in pen on front flyleaf. Inked stamps on back flyleaf and back cover. Several leaves partly detached. Closed and open tears edges of cover and several leaves, some restored.
Sergey Chekhonin (Сергей Васильевич Чехонин), influential Soviet Russian graphic artist, painter, and ceramic artist; member of the "Mir Iskusstva" ("Мир искусства": "World of Art") movement. Developed the idea of using porcelain vessels as a medium for disseminating Soviet propaganda. Became politically active following the revolution of 1905, and maintained close ties with revolutionary circles. This involvement was expressed through the political caricatures he created for magazines and the books he illustrated and designed. In the years 1918-23, he became the first artistic director following the October Revolution (1917) of the "State Porcelain Factory" (formerly the "Tsarist Porcelain Factory") that operated under the auspices of the Fine Arts Department of the Narkompros – the People's Commissariat for Education, under the directorship of Anatoly Lunacharsky. Chekhonin adhered to a Constructivist design concept that conformed with the spirit of the times under the dictates of the new ideology. He was at one point replaced by Nikolay Punin, but returned to his position as the institution's artistic director in the years 1925-27. As a graphic designer, he was responsible for the design of currency bills and postage stamps, and was a partner in the design of the flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Left Russia in 1928, and took up residence in France and Germany, where he continued to design ceramic vessels and theater sets and illustrate and design books.
The earliest known monograph on Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster (1882-1949), a Ukrainian-born avant-garde and cubo-futurist painter, and stage and costume designer. Ekster was among the most notable artists of the Russian and Ukrainian avant-garde. She lived and worked in a number of cities, among them Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, and Paris, and taught and influenced many artists, including Boris Aronson, Yissakhar Ber Rybak, and Yitzhak Frenkel.
The text is followed by 39 illustration plates; four additional plates (three of them in color) are tipped-in. These offer glimpses of Ekster's work in a number of different fields, namely painting and costume and stage design.
The author, art critic Yakov Alexandrovich Tugendhold (1882-1928), was also responsible for the earliest Russian-language monograph on Marc Chagall, in addition to a wide variety of other art-related books. He served as an expert consultant and purchaser for art collector Sergei Shchukin's renowned collection of Impressionist art.
31, [1] pp. + [4] plates, XXXIX plates (missing plate no. II; another copy of plate XIII is bound instead, upside down), 21.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including minor dampstains to edges of some leaves. Minor creases and blemishes. Minor tears to edges of cover and to spine.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.
Guide containing detailed information regarding various print techniques, including lithography, copper engraving, woodcuts and mezzotint. The guide has numerous illustrations (both within the text and on separate pages): Prints by famous artists from different periods, including Masjutyn's own works. Cover design by Masjutyn.
Wasyl Nikolayevich Masjutyn (Василий Николаевич Масютин, 1884-1955). Born in Riga; educated at a military school. Studied art in Moscow, and specialized in printmaking. Fought for roughly two years as a front-line soldier in the Russian army during WWI. Lived in Berlin from 1921, working as a painter, sculptor, and cinematic set and backdrop designer, but dealing mostly in graphic design and book illustration for a number of different Russian publishers, in particular illustrating the works of classic Russian authors such as Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, and others.
133, [1] pp., 22 cm. Good condition. Stains (mostly to cover). Abrasion to title page. Several leaves partly detached. Cover detached. Minor tears to edges of cover; open tears to spine.
Text by Gaston Bachelard, with 96 reproductions in black and white and 24 original lithographs in color, after drawings on biblical themes made by Chagall in 1958-1959. Cover designed by Chagall.
36 cm. Good condition. Minor stains (mostly to edges). Blemished and minor tears to boards and spine.
2. "Ezor Magen uNe'um Ben HaDam" (Hebrew), by Uri Zvi Greenberg. Jerusalem: Sadan, 1930. Linocut by Leon Finn on the front cover.
3. "BeIkvei HaShir, words of praise and research on the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg, published from time to time" (Hebrew). Jerusalem: HaMiloh, Tamuz 1949.
4. "Poems" (Hebrew), by Uri Zvi Greenberg, publisher not indicated. Poet's portrait by Reuben Rubin on the first leaf.
Size and condition vary. Stains and blemishes (mostly minor); single long tear to one booklet. Blemishes and wear to covers (one detached, one with long tears and open tears to spine).
1. Malkosh, Shirim Aleph [Last Rain, Poems I], by Yaakov Peremen. Jaffa-Tel Aviv: M. Shoham, 5686 [1926]. Cover designer not indicated.
2. Mashiah Ben Yosef [Messiah son of Joseph], by Beinush Steiman. Translated from the Yiddish by Yehuda Ya'ari. Jerusalem: HaStudia Hadramatit "Masad, " 1926/27. The logo of the "Masad" theater group printed on the cover may have been designed by Arieh Elhanani, who was responsible for the costume and set design of the stage production "Messiah son of Joseph."
3. Adam, by Samuel Bass. Tel Aviv: Hedim, 5687 [1927]. Title page design and illustration by Nahum Paley (1889-1956).
4. BaSha'ar, Mahzor Shirim [In the Gateway: A Cycle of Poems], by Lyova (Yehuda) Almi. Jerusalem, 5687 [1927]. The design of the cover and the mounted illustration (intact in the current copy; usually torn off) are by Pinhas Litvinovsky.
5. El HaShemesh, Drama BeShalosh Ma'arakhot [Toward the Sun, Drama in Three Acts] by Yonah Rigai. Tel Aviv: Nivim, 5688 [1928]. Cover designer not indicated.
6. Ein Rahel (Agadah) [Ein Rahel (A Legend)], by Sara Gluzman. Tel Aviv, 5694 [1934]. Illustrated by David Hendler.
7. MiBayit, Shirim [From Within, Poems], by Avraham Broides. Tel Aviv: Davar, 5696 [1936]. Cover design: Moshe Vorobeichic.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. In some books, stains, tears, and creases to edges of covers.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.
Bound volume of issues of the weekly "El Instructor, revista sientifika y literaria" ("The Instructor, scientific and literary review"), edited by David Fresco. Year one, issues 1-32 (no additional issues were published). Galata, Istanbul, 1888. Ladino.
The periodical El Instructor, edited by David Fresco (1853-1933), prominent Ladino translator, journalist and public figure, was published during the course of 1888 (1st Iyar 1888 – 11th Kislev 1888). It features articles on literature, science, history, the Jewish world, and includes serialized stories and novels, riddles and quizzes, and more. In the main editorial in the first issue, Fresco writes: "After dedicating more than 13 of my best years to publishing the newspaper El Telegrafo, I realized it was necessary to renounce from it […] and I am beginning now with the publication of a new newspaper titled El Instructor" (quoted by Gaon, see below).
Rare. The complete collection of issues is held in the NLI and other libraries in microfilm only.
See: Dov Cohen, Thesaurus of Ladino Books, Yad Ben Zvi, 2021. No. 3480. • Moshe David Gaon, A Bibliography of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) Press, Yad Ben Zvi, 1965, no. 15.
The editor of the periodical, David Fresco (1853-1933), was closely associated with the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and was known to enthusiastically support the integration of Jews as equal citizens in the Ottoman empire, among other things by encouraging Westernization in all areas of life. This viewpoint is expressed in El Instructor, one of several publications edited by Fresco, the purpose of which was "to educate the readers about the latest trends in hygiene, child-rearing, nutrition, and the natural and human sciences" (Abrevaya Stein, p. 124; see below). El instructor and other periodicals edited by Fresco were comprised almost entirely of articles translated from contemporary English- and French-language periodicals, and offered Jewish readers "models of how to eat, drink, sleep, exercise, breath and behave" (ibid). They thus served as a platform for furthering the interests of the Alliance. Nevertheless, given that they were written in Ladino, they were perceived as intrinsically Jewish periodicals.
Fresco was criticized for not being Zionist, and for expressing hostility to the Zionist movement and its institutions, which he rejected in favor of the integration of Jews in the general society. Nevertheless, in the various forums he wrote in, Fresco defended the rights of the Jews, and dealt with attacks against them in Turkish newspapers, while at the same time displaying absolute loyalty to the Ottoman Empire, and after 1923, to the Republic of Turkey.
See: Sarah Abrevaya Stein, "Making Jews Modern: the Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 2004.
32 issues, bound together. 318 pp. (8-12 pages per issue; continuous pagination). Approx. 38 cm. Overall good condition. Stains (dark stains to several leaves). Minor marginal tear, some open, not affecting text, repaired in part. Minor creases. Some handwritten notations. New binding and endpapers.
Five bound volumes of issues of the literary supplement to the newspaper "El Telegrafo" – "El Telegrafo, Edicion de Martes" (The Telegraph: Tuesday edition), edited by Isak son of Yehezkel Gabbay. Years 1-5 – 241 issues. Galata (Istanbul), 1888-1893. Ladino.
Five bound volumes of issues of the literary supplement to El Telegrafo, distributed on Tuesdays. The supplement, which began appearing in 1888, featured articles on various literary topics, serials, poems, and various items relating to culture and science (including a series of articles dedicated to the 1889 Paris World's Fair). Illustrations in some issues.
An additional supplement to El Telegrafo was published on Thursdays (titled "El Telegrafo, Edicion de Jueves"). According to Dov Cohen (see below), it is unclear whether the two supplements appeared concurrently or in different years.
241 issues, in five volumes. This is presumably an almost complete collection of the supplement's issues. The first volume, from 1888, is especially rare. Dov Cohen notes (based on the copies in the Yad Ben Zvi library): "We saw issues from vols. 2-5… the last one being: vol. 5 [year 16], no. 48, 26th Tishrei 1893" (the last issue in the present volumes is issue 47, 4th Tishrei 1893).
Little is known about the editor, Isak son of Yehezkel Gabbay (d. 1930 in Istanbul). Gabbay – a writer, journalist, editor and translator – was a member of a prominent Spanish family, son of Judge Yehezkel Gabbay, and brother of the writer Rosa Gabbay. His father founded the newspaper Journal Israelit (Cohen, no. 3549), which became the El Nasyonal (ibid, no. 3650), and eventually the El Telegraf (later El Telegrafo). Gabbay edited the paper, one of the most prominent amongst Ladino speakers in the Ottoman Empire, throughout most years of its publication; he was preceded by the prominent journalist David Fresco.
Issues:
• Vol. I (years 10-11 of the publication of the main edition of El Telegrafo), issue nos. 1-50 – 29th Nissan 1888 to 8th Nissan 1889. 398 pp. Lacking final leaf of issue no. 50. Includes title page and table of contents for entire volume.
• Vol. II (years 11-12 of the main edition), issue nos. 1-48 – 23rd Nissan 1889 to 11th Nissan 1890. 384 pp. Includes table of contents for entire volume.
• Vol. III (years 12-13 of main edition), issue nos. 1-48 – 25th Nissan 1890 to 12th Nissan 1891. 382 pp. Includes table of contents for entire volume.
• Vol. IV (years 13-14 of main edition), issue nos. 1-48 – 27th Nissan 1891 to 5th Sivan 1892. 384 pp.
• Vol. V (years 14-15 of main edition), issue nos. 1-47 – 19th Sivan 1892 to 4th Tishrei 1893. 376 pp.
See: • Dov Cohen, Thesaurus of Ladino Books, Yad Ben Zvi, 2021. No. 3575. • Moshe David Gaon, A Bibliography of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) Press, Yad Ben Zvi, 1965, no. 117.
5 volumes, approx. 33.5 cm. Condition varies. Overall good-fair condition. Stains, including foxing and dampstains, some large. Closed and open tears, affecting text; long tears to some leaves (across leaf). Some tears (non-professionally) repaired with paper. Some leaves detached or loose. Loose gatherings in last volume (binding partially detached). Minor worming to some issues. Ottoman revenue stamps. Wear and defects to bindings. Four bindings incorporate original leather spines.
Six bound volumes of issue of the satiric periodical "El Jugeton" (also: El Gugeton), edited by Elia Rafael Carmona. Years 2-7 – 293 issues. Istanbul: Arditi press, 1910-1915. Ladino.
The newspaper features "mostly satirical literary texts, such as poems, parodies and articles criticizing the community leadership and figures etc. Includes serialized stories, many of them by Carmona, the editor" (Cohen, see below). Some issues printed on colored paper. Occasional cartoons and illustrations.
293 issues – all the issues for years 2-7 of the periodical's publication (in six volumes): • Year 2, 51 consecutive issues – Nissan 1910 to Adar 1911. • Year 3, 51 consecutive issues – Adar 1911 to Adar 1912. • Year 4, 52 consecutive issues – Nissan 1912 to Adar I 1913. • Year 5, 52 consecutive issues – Adar II 1913 to Adar 1914. • Year 6, 43 consecutive issues – Adar 1914 to Adar 1915. • Year 7, 44 consecutive issues – Adar 1915 to Nissan 1916.
Rare. A complete collections of consecutive issues from these years is scarce.
The editor, Elia Rafael Carmona (1869-1931/5), humorist and satirist, prominent Ladino journalist and writer, was born in Istanbul to a Sephardic family of distinguished lineage. He authored romances, novellas and serialized novels; worked as typist for the journalist David Fresco, with whom he held close ties. After the 1908 Young Turks Revolution, which allowed for greater freedom of publication in the Ottoman Empire, he began publishing the El Jugeton. The paper gained popularity and was published for over two decades.
See: Dov Cohen, Thesaurus of Ladino Books, Yad Ben Zvi, 2021. No. 3546. • Moshe David Gaon, A Bibliography of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) Press, Ben Zvi Institute, 1965, no. 86.
6 volumes. Most issues 8-pages long. Size and condition vary. Overall good condition (some issues in good-fair condition). Stains. Tears, mostly minor. One leaf torn in half; several leaves with long tears, repaired. Margins of some issues trimmed, slightly affecting text. Minor worming to some issues. Ink faded on several leaves. Some handwritten notations. A few leaves detached or partially detached. Minor defects to bindings.
1. Silabario judeo-español y primo libro de lectura [Judeo-Spanish study book, first reader]. [Thessaloniki]: published by Ovadia Naar, Ecler press, [ca. 1925].
From p. 19 onwards – Primo libro de lectura, a reader with a variety of texts in Ladino (presumably by Yaakov son of Eliyahu HaKohen, who published the book Lecturas Diversas in Thessaloniki ca. 1890).
In the 1920s and 1930s, Ovadia S. Naar published several editions of a textbook for the study of Ladino (with different content), sometimes using the same title page for several editions. The present book is the ca. 1925 edition, with the title page of the ca. 1920 edition. See: Dov Cohen, Thesaurus of the Ladino Book 1490-1960, Jerusalem 2022, listing nos. 2734, 2736 and 2737.
32 pp. (including wrappers), 20 cm. Good condition. Stains, including minor dampstains. Creases. Small wormhole through all leaves (with minute damage to text). Pinholes and some minor closed and open tears to edges (not affecting text), repaired in part. Lower margins trimmed unevenly. With new paper wrappers.
2. Nuevo silabario español, metod prática y moderna por el enseñamiento dela lingua judeo-española [New Spanish study book. Practical and Modern Method for the Study of Judeo-Spanish]. Thessaloniki: Ovadia S. Naar, 1931.
From p. 22 onwards – Segunda parte y primo libro de lectura, texts on various topics. Printed based on the Thessaloniki 1929 edition. See: Dov Cohen, Thesaurus of Ladino Books 1490-1960, Jerusalem 2022, listing nos. 2738-2739.
Inked stamp on the back wrapper – Offenbach Archival Depot (warehouse of the U.S. Army in the town of Offenbach am Main in the American sector of Germany, where millions of books, manuscripts and documents looted by the Germans during WWII were collected. Some were later returned to their previous owners, while others were sent to various libraries and collections around the world).
[40] pp., approx. 20 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Inked stamps on wrappers. New card binding (bound with original wrappers).