Guest book of Universitas Booksellers, owned by Hermann Meyer. Includes about 230 signatures of statesmen, writers and dignitaries. Jerusalem, late 1930s to early 1970s.
The guest book includes signatures of David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Teddy Kollek, Bezalel Narkiss, Reuven Mass, Sholem Asch, Abraham Meir Habermann, Moshe Gardon (head of the Bialik Institute), Shmuel Gutman, foreign journalists, British officers and others.
In addition, the book contains dozens of mounted photographs, paper items and newspaper clippings documenting the store and its visitors. Mounted items include: two handwritten sketches for the store's sign made by Ismar (Itamar) David, invitations to exhibitions displayed in the store, a typewritten catalogue of maps from the Hermann Meyer collection, visiting cards of the store's visitors, and additional items.
65 pp. with inscriptions or mounted items (many pages left blank), volume: approx. 33 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and creases. Defects and small tears to margins of first and last leaves. Cloth-covered binding, with the store label mounted on its inner side (worn and damaged, with tears to upper margins). Front cover and spine detached.
Provenance: Collection of Hermann Meyer and his daughter Channah Sapir.