Auction 89 - Rare and Important Items

Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with Selichot – Dordrecht (The Netherlands), 1584 – Early Decorated Leather Binding – One of the First Prayer Books Printed for Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands

Opening: $4,000
Estimate: $5,000 - $6,000
Sold for: $5,000
Including buyer's premium

Orden de Roshasanah y Kipur, machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, with selichot, translated into Spanish. [Dordrecht (the Netherlands)]: [P. Verhagen] for Yahacob Israel, [1584].
This machzor edition is considered the first prayer book printed in the Netherlands for the Sephardic Jews who settled there (the first part of this machzor, for the three festivals, was printed two months prior). At that time, Jewish settlement in the Netherlands was still in its infancy, and the Amsterdam Jewish community had not yet been founded.
Owner's initials lettered on front board: "E. B.".


170, 175-327 leaves. Lacking 4 leaves: 171-174. 13.5 cm. Gilt edges. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming to title page and other leaves, with significant damage to text. Tear to title page, affecting border and text on verso, without loss. Title page trimmed with slightly damage to border. First leaves loose and partially detached. Stamps. Early leather binding, with marbled endpapers (back endpaper lacking), and gilt decorations to spine. Defects and worming to binding.


The colophon on the final page states Mainz (Maguntia) as place of printing (based on this colophon, this machzor is known as "Machzor Maguntia"). The place of printing was presumably forged to mislead the Christian censorship, and the machzor was actually printed in Dordrecht in the P. Verhagen press (see enclosed material).
Rare edition, which to the best of our knowledge has never before been offered at auction.

Prayer Books and Haggadot
Prayer Books and Haggadot