Auction 19 - Books, Manuscripts and Rabbinical Letters

Tractate Kiddushin, Munich, 1946 (First Post-Holocaust Printing of Talmud)

Opening: $200
Sold for: $525
Including buyer's premium
Tractate Kiddushin of the Babylonian Talmud. Published by the Rabbis Union Committee in the American region in Germany with the assistance of Va'ad HaHatzala. Munich St. Etilin, 1946. Illustrated title page with photographs from the extermination camps "labor shed in which we secretly slept, studied and prayed".
In the publisher's introduction he mentions the "taking of the book from the people of the Book" by the evil people who annihilated and burnt European Jewry and made an effort not to leave any Hebrew book "all books were taken for paper processing or other despicable usesג€¦ and therefore after the liberation there was a great thirst for books, Yeshivot were established, however, there were no books to study fromג€¦ this spurred us to print some tractatesג€¦ we possess only Tractate Kiddushin and Nedarim in one volume in nearly new condition and we decided to photocopy and print these tractates and distribute them among the refugees in Germanyג€¦" [At a later stage, the entire Shas was printed in Munich in a uniform edition consisting of 19 volumes, with an illustrated title page with different illustrations than this first copy].
[1], 96, 16, 9 leaves. (Missing 5 leaves at end, originally: [1], 96, 16, 14 leaves). 39.5 cm. Good-fair condition, stains, wear and moth damage. Worn binding.
Books Printed in Austria and Germany, Books Printed for She'erit Ha-Pleita
Books Printed in Austria and Germany, Books Printed for She'erit Ha-Pleita