Auction 89 - Rare and Important Items
Large Handwritten Leaf, with Micrographic Ornaments – Letter to Queen Victoria from the Jews of Safed – Safed 1849
Opening: $1,000
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
Sold for: $3,000
Including buyer's premium
Large handwritten leaf, with micrographic ornaments – letter to Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, from the Jews of Safed. [Safed, 1849]. Hebrew.
The letter is addressed to Queen Victoria in the name of 255 Jews who immigrated to Safed from the Russian Empire, and request the protection of the British Crown.
Three micrographic ornaments adorn the top of the letter: a crown consisting of Psalms, with the inscription "Keter Meluchah" at the base; flanked by two hands raised in priestly blessing, comprised of the words of the prayer for the monarch, with the name of the queen – Victoria. The text of the letter is flanked by verses from Yeshaya, lettered in gilt.
In the letter, the Jews of Safed relate that they have been left stateless as a result of the decree issued by Czar Nicholas I in 1848, pronouncing that those absent from Russia for more than half a year would lose their Russian nationality.
The same decree allowed Jews to apply to representatives of other European countries in Palestine for protection, and the British consul James Finn gave the Safed residents a written commitment to grant them the status of British protégés, though he later retracted his commitment. The letter describes the rejoicing of the Jews upon receiving this note from Finn, and the sense of security it gave them, and conversely their distress when it was retracted. In order to settle their status, and with the hope of gaining the protection of the British crown, the Jews of Safed sent their representative, Rabbi Mordechai Halevi, to the British embassy to plead the case of the poor, destitute Jews who left their homeland to settle in the Holy Land and devote themselves to the worship of G-d.
As the consul Finn writes in his book Stirring Times, most of the Russian Jews in Palestine eventually did become British protégés. He even brings the English translation of a letter on parchment received from the Jews of Safed in July 1849, thanking the queen for her protection.
56X40 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains, including minor dampstains and traces of mold. Open tears due to ink erosion, affecting text. Fold lines and creases (slightly affecting text). Tears to folds and margins. Reinforced with acidic tape on verso and in margins (partially detached); dark tape stains to length and width of leaf.
The letter is addressed to Queen Victoria in the name of 255 Jews who immigrated to Safed from the Russian Empire, and request the protection of the British Crown.
Three micrographic ornaments adorn the top of the letter: a crown consisting of Psalms, with the inscription "Keter Meluchah" at the base; flanked by two hands raised in priestly blessing, comprised of the words of the prayer for the monarch, with the name of the queen – Victoria. The text of the letter is flanked by verses from Yeshaya, lettered in gilt.
In the letter, the Jews of Safed relate that they have been left stateless as a result of the decree issued by Czar Nicholas I in 1848, pronouncing that those absent from Russia for more than half a year would lose their Russian nationality.
The same decree allowed Jews to apply to representatives of other European countries in Palestine for protection, and the British consul James Finn gave the Safed residents a written commitment to grant them the status of British protégés, though he later retracted his commitment. The letter describes the rejoicing of the Jews upon receiving this note from Finn, and the sense of security it gave them, and conversely their distress when it was retracted. In order to settle their status, and with the hope of gaining the protection of the British crown, the Jews of Safed sent their representative, Rabbi Mordechai Halevi, to the British embassy to plead the case of the poor, destitute Jews who left their homeland to settle in the Holy Land and devote themselves to the worship of G-d.
As the consul Finn writes in his book Stirring Times, most of the Russian Jews in Palestine eventually did become British protégés. He even brings the English translation of a letter on parchment received from the Jews of Safed in July 1849, thanking the queen for her protection.
56X40 cm. Fair-poor condition. Stains, including minor dampstains and traces of mold. Open tears due to ink erosion, affecting text. Fold lines and creases (slightly affecting text). Tears to folds and margins. Reinforced with acidic tape on verso and in margins (partially detached); dark tape stains to length and width of leaf.
Zionism, the Land of Israel
Zionism, the Land of Israel