Auction 92 Part 2 Rare and Important Manuscripts and Items of the Gross Family Collection
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Manuscript, notebook of calligraphy samples including samples of micrography and various texts, produced by school students. [Germany? 1830s]. German in Hebrew characters.
The notebook was handwritten by students of four classes in a modern Jewish school, presumably in Germany. The title on the front board (gilt lettering on a red leather label) reads: "Hebraïsche Probeschriften, I, II, III, IV Klasse" (German). The notebook opens with five meticulously executed full-page micrographies, depicting neoclassical figures, including a micrography forming the figure of the Angel of Death (in its Greek version – Thanatos, wearing a helmet), surrounded by a Hebrew inscription: "Man is destined to die". The following leaves contain sample texts, in both square and cursive script, with fine headings and calligraphic ornaments. Further in the notebook are simpler samples of penmanship – various texts (including passages of folk songs and German poetry), as well as repeated practice letters and words. Each sample is signed by the student, and from the repeated family names one can see that several families must have sent a number of their children to the school. There is no indication of the place where the school operated, yet one of the students, Joseph Kolsky, signed mentioning his hometown – Szamotuły, a town in Greater Poland Voivodeship (western Poland).
The paper is marked with an English watermark – "J Whatman 1832" (different watermark on the endpapers).
[31] leaves. 42 cm. Good condition. Stains. Several minor marginal tears. Blemishes and stains to binding. Open tears to label on front board.
Reference:
Avrin, Leila, Hebrew Calligraphy Model Books. Letter Arts Review, 1998, Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp. 34-41.
Provenance:
1. Christie's Amsterdam, 21 June 1989, lot 51.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, GR.011.005.
Ierusalem, vetustissima illa et celeberrima totius mundi civitas, by Adam Reissner. Frankfurt am Main: Corvinus, Feyerabend, & Gallus, 1563. Latin, with some Greek and Hebrew.
First Latin edition of Adam Reissner's work on Jerusalem (published the same year as the German edition). The book describes dozens of holy sites (the name of the site appears at the beginning of each chapter in Latin, Greek and Hebrew), and is illustrated with many woodcuts depicting various scenes from the Holy Scriptures. Some of the woodcuts are signed with the monogram VC – draughtsman and printmaker Virgil Solis. On p. 3, a small woodcut map of the Old World – the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, with Jerusalem in the center. Following p. 24, a double-page woodcut map of Jerusalem before its destruction. This map shows Jerusalem as a rectangle, divided into quarters by three inner walls; the central quarter, in which the Temple is located, is the largest. This map is considered one of the prototypes of the imaginary map of Jerusalem (maps depicting Jerusalem on basis of descriptions from various books).
Adam Reissner (ca. 1496-1575), German Hebraist, mystic and hymn-writer, pupil of Johannes Reuchlin. He studied in the University of Halle-Wittenberg (alongside Marthin Luther and Philip Melanchthon). For many years he was an independent scholar (among other occupations, he worked as a chronicler in Mindelheim and taught theology in Strasbourg). He published various historical and theological works; the most famous of them, apart from his hymns, being the present book.
Bound in blind-stamped leather over card boards (with figures from the Holy Scriptures and other ornaments).
[6] leaves, 653 pages, [16] leaves + [1] plate. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Worming to binding and book (mostly marginal). Stains, including dampstains. Minor blemishes. Notations and markings in ink (old; inscription on title page dated 1661). Minor blemishes and tears to binding. Spine painted; with handwritten book title and serial number.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.377.
A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof, with the History of the Old and New Testament acted thereon, by Thomas Fuller. London: Printed by J.F for John Williams, 1650. First Edition. English with some Latin.
Comprehensive study on the subject of Palestine and its history in accordance with the Bible and New Testament, by Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), English churchman, historian and author.
The book is illustrated with 30 engraved plates (most of them double-page) including an engraved title page; an engraving showing coats-of-arms (five of the 34 shields were left blank); a large, folding map of the Holy Land; a map of Jerusalem and maps charting the territorial boundaries of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; plates with plans and illustrations portraying the Great Temple in Jerusalem; and more. Fuller based himself on maps by Christian van Adrichem, adding numerous illustrations and decorations of his own.
The printing of the maps in the book was funded by a number of aristocrats and merchants. The coats-of-arms of the donors were featured in a special engraving at the beginning of the book: thirty-four shields originally printed without emblems; the emblems were added to the engraving successively, as contributions came in. Some copies have up to thirty-three different emblems; the present copy has twenty-nine emblems. Some of the coats-of-arms were also printed in the margins of the maps.
[6] leaves, 434, [4] (i.e. 448; mispagination), 202 pages, [11] leaves. 30 engraved plates (most engraved plates included in pagination). 34.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor tears and small holes to some leaves. Tears to engraved map of the Holy Land, some mended. Tears to several additional engraved plates (most minor, not affecting engraving; one tear mended). Small worming holes to several leaves (with minor damage to one of the maps). Bookplate to inside front board. Notation in pencil on endpapers and several notations in ink. Bound in leather over card boards, with blemishes, minor tears, and wear. Fracture to corner of front board. New spine.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.384.