Auction 86 - Part I - Rare & Important Items

Lot 1

Year-Round Selichot Following Ashkenazi Rite – Special, Rare Copy Printed on Blue Paper – Venice, 1548

Opening: $2,000
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
Sold for: $10,000
Including buyer's premium
Year-round selichot, according to Ashkenazi rite, with explanation of difficult words. Venice: Cornelio Adelkind, 1548.
Special copy, printed on blue paper. Blue paper was introduced into Italian Hebrew printing early in the 16th century. Like vellum, it was used for preparing deluxe editions of books, which were printed in a limited number of copies for wealthy people (see: Brad Sabin Hill, Hebrew Printing on Blue and Other Coloured Papers, in: Otzrot Yaakov, Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library, London and New York 2011, pp. 84 onwards).
Selichot for the month of Elul, the Ten Days of Repentance, Yom Kippur, Monday-Thursday-Monday, 10th Tevet, 17th Tammuz and Brit Milah, with the Torah reading and Haftarah for a public fast day.
Explanation of difficult words printed in the margins.
Index of selichot on last two leaves.
Many censorship deletions in ink (occasionally entire lines deleted).
131, [2] leaves. Lacking final leaf (leaf [3]), with the El Melech Yoshev prayer. Approx. 21 cm. Blue paper. Fair-good condition. Many stains, including dampstains and wax stains (significant stains in several places). Minor wear. Worming, slightly affecting text. Some paper reinforcements. Old binding, damaged.
Regarding the text of the selichot as they appear in this edition, the censorship emendations, and comparisons to earlier editions, see: M. Benayahu, Haskama VeReshut BiDfusei Venitzia, Jerusalem, 1971, pp. 181-189.
Siddurim and Prayer Books, Bibles, Talmud
Siddurim and Prayer Books, Bibles, Talmud