Iudaea seu Terra Sancta quae Hebraeorum sive Israelitarum, map of Palestine. Hand–colored engraving, from the Atlas Francois, by Alexis Hubert Jaillot. Paris: Hubertum Ialliot, 1696. Latin.

Map of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River, depicting the territories of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The shoreline runs from Sidon in the north to Gaza in the south. The cartouche containing the heading is ornamented with a vegetal pattern, and flanked by the figures of Moses and Aaron. A medallion on the bottom of the cartouche contains an illustration of the Nehushtan. Another cartouche appears on the lower right corner of the map, illustrated with the images of Adam, Eve, the snake and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The engraving was made by Louis Cordier, after Guillaume Sanson.

Engraved map: 63X97 cm. Good condition. Fold lines.

Laor: 368.
Provenance: Private collection.

Ierusalem Comme elle est a present, Hand–Colored Engraving. Paris: "chez Jean. rue Jean de Beauvais", [18th century]. French.
Birds–eye view of Jerusalem, seen from the east (after a map by Matthäus Merian).
A legend at the bottom of the map lists 36 significant sites in the city.
Not in Laor.

Approx. 34X51.5 cm. Frame: 53.5X71 cm. Good condition. Marginal tears. Minor creases and blemishes. Unexamined out of frame.

Provenance: Private collection.

25 lithographs and prints, depicting sites and views in Palestine and its surroundings, most of which hand-colored. Europe and the USA, 19th century [some presumably earlier].
Collection comprising 25 fine lithographs and prints, most of them hand-colored, by the most important artist who depicted Palestine and the Levant during the 19th century. The collection includes works by David Roberts, from his book "The Holy Land"; lithographs after Charles William Meredith van de Velde (Jerusalem seen from the north-east, from the book "'Le Pays d'Israel"); William Henry Bartlett (Jerusalem seen from the Mount of Olives); a photograph of the Western Wall by Ermete Pierotti (from his book "Jerusalem Explored"), and more.

25 lithographs. Approx. 23X61-43-14 cm. Condition varies. Overall good condition. Minor stains. Minor tears to some lithographs, without damage to text.

Provenance: Private collection.

Sinai Photographed, or Contemporary Records of Israel in the Wilderness, by Charles Forster. London: Richard Bentley, 1862. English.

A study seeking to prove the veracity of the Exodus story according to numerous Nabatean inscriptions found in the Sinai Desert. The inscriptions were documented by French scholar Lottin de Laval during his voyage in the Sinai Desert and some were published in his book, Voyage dans la péninsule arabique du Sinai et l’Egypt moyenne (1855-1859). The author of the present study, Forster, focused on the inscriptions that, according to him, were written by the Israelites, and presented translations of these inscriptions that accord with the story of the Exodus as told in the Bible. Later scholars proved that Forster allowed himself much poetic license in their translation, and even drew farfetched conclusions without a sound basis.

The book contains 18 photographs of the castings that document the inscriptions (taken by photographer A. J. Brown), mounted on plates; a photographed portrait of the author; four lithographic plates of Sinai views; numerous reconstructions of inscriptions (according to castings prepared by Victor Lottin de Laval); the map of the Israelites journeys in the desert ("Transitus Israelitarum per Mare Rubrum"), after the book by Peter Goldschmidt (ca. 1711); and a facsimile of a letter received by the author from the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley.

One folded plate is presumably missing at the end of the volume (table with inscription).

XX, 352 pages + [1] engraves plate + [1] facsimile (letter). 34.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Some creases and minor blemishes to margins. Leaves and plates loose (some partly detached). Two ownership inscriptions to first page. Gilt binding, blemished and worn; tears to spine.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, ALE.10.

Sichas Chulin, Eine fun di Geshichten, a tale by Moishe Broderzon, illustrated by Eliezer (El) Lissitzky. Moscow: Nashe slovo, 1917 (printing details from colophon on final page). Yiddish.
Sichas Chulin ("Small Talk" or "The Legend of Prague") is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's finest examples of illustrated Jewish books. The composition was written as a Modernist adaptation of the folk tale "Maaseh Yerushalmi" ("A Jerusalem Tale"), a story of the marriage of the Jew R. Yonah to the daughter of Ashmedai (Asmodeus), King of the Demons, with the setting of the story moved to the Jewish Ghetto of Prague.
The design of this publication – Lissitzky's first significant work in book design – was inspired by illustrated Jewish scrolls, while at the same time integrating modernist elements. The text was written entirely by a Jewish scribe ("sofer stam"), in square Hebrew letters, and was illustrated throughout in a format resembling that of Esther scrolls, with splendid illustrations and decorations – figures, animals and architectonic structures. The title page illustration shows three figures representing the creators of this scroll, namely Lissitzky, Broderzon, and the scribe, and a fourth, smaller figure, representing the main character of the story – a Jew being lifted upward in the talons of a large bird.
The first edition of Sichas Chulin was printed in Moscow, 1917, in a limited edition, of which a small number of copies were bound in form of scrolls (see Kedem Auction 92, item 183).

[18] pages. 30.5X24 cm. Good condition. Stains. Marginal tears to title page and final page, repaired with paper. Inner margins reinforced with paper. Stamps. Faded inscription on title page. New binding and endpapers.

El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890–1941), Russian Jewish artist, designer, photographer, educator, typographer, and architect, among the most prominent and influential leaders of the Russian avant–garde movement. An architect by training, Lissitzky, along with his mentor and friend Kazimir Malevich, greatly contributed to the formation and development of the Suprematist movement, which advanced a geometric form of abstract art. He was responsible for the design of numerous books and periodicals, as well as exhibitions and propaganda material on behalf of Russia's Communist regime, and he exerted considerable influence on Europe's Bauhaus and Constructivist movements.
Early in his career, Lissitzky expressed a keen interest in Jewish culture, and Jewish motifs were integrated into many of his works. In this vein, in 1915–16 he took part in Sh. An–ski's ethnographic expedition into the Pale of Jewish Settlement. With the outbreak of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution, Lissitzky came to be wholeheartedly identified with the Communist cause. In the interest of advancing Jewish culture in Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution, he devoted much of his creative energy, among other things, to designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, and a number of his published children's books were regarded as pioneering masterpieces of graphic design and typography. Nevertheless, several years later he largely abandoned Jewish subject matter and embarked instead on the development of a more abstract and universal artistic language. The resulting style found its keenest expression in a series of abstract, geometric paintings, drawings and prints he created in the years 1919–27, to which he gave the name "Proun."

Moishe Broderzon (1890–1956), poet, playwright, and founder of a number of prominent artists' groups in Eastern Europe, including the "Yung–Yiddish" avant–garde group, the Ararat Theater of Łódź, and the world's first Yiddish marionette theater, "Had Gadya." In 1916, Broderzon was one of the founders of the "Circle for Jewish National Aesthetic" artists' group in Moscow known as "Shomir". Broderzon's oeuvre includes a host of poems and plays, many of which were dedicated to Jewish topics. Among other works, Broderzon created the libretto for "Dovid un Bas Sheva, " the first Yiddish opera to appear onstage in Poland, as well as the acclaimed epic poem "Yud, " which deals with the impending calamity about to befall European Jewry. Many of Broderzon's books were products of a collaboration with other Jewish artists, including designers, painters, and photographers. These collaborations gave rise to several books illustrated and designed in a host of different styles.
Alongside "Had Gadya" (see following item), "Sichas Chulin" is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's finest examples of illustrated Yiddish books.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv.