Large collection of close to one hundred books printed in Shanghai in 1942-1947, by yeshiva students who fled to the Far East during the Holocaust.
The collection comprises volumes of Talmud and Rambam, books on Halacha and novellae, Chassidut and Kabbalah, ethics and homily, books of Jewish thought and biographies. Most of the books are photocopy editions (see below), though some are original works composed by the refugees themselves, including a book (in Yiddish) about the Treblinka extermination camp. The collection includes the book Pizmonim LeSimchat Torah, printed in 1935 (by the small community of Indian and Iraqi Jews in Shanghai), and a catalog printed by the YIVO institute in New York, 1948, for the "Jewish Life in Shanghai" exhibition – "Catalogue of the exhibition, Jewish life in Shanghai, September 1948-January 1949".
97 volumes. Size and condition vary.
A detailed list will be sent upon request.

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Jewish Publishing in Shanghai and Displaced Persons Camps – The Tenacity of the People of the Book

Throughout its wanderings and exiles, the Jewish people has always turned to books as an anchor and source of comfort. In every situation, even in the bunkers of the Warsaw ghetto and the Siberian Gulag camps, Jewish refugees clung to their books and beliefs. The two large collections offered in this auction (items 164-165) embody the history of the People of the Book. The abundance of books printed in Shanghai during the war by Jewish refugees, as well as the numerous titles printed in DP camps after the war by Holocaust survivors and their liberators, testify to the Jewish people's love for Torah and holy books.

Jewish Publishing in Shanghai

Shanghai, China served as temporary home to thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe, including hundreds of yeshiva students who, having fled Europe, were miraculously spared the horrors of the Holocaust. In their flight to the Far East, the refugees rode the Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok (Russia's easternmost port, on the shores of Sea of Japan), and from there in dilapidated boats across the sea to Japan, finally arriving at the city of Kobe. After a while, the Japanese authorities exiled these refugees to Shanghai, which was then under Japanese rule.

The shortage of books was keenly felt as soon as they arrived in Shanghai, as the books they had brought with them from Poland and Lithuania did not suffice. Years later, the lack of book was still remembered as a pressing problem:

"…the problem which most troubled the yeshiva then was the book shortage. The only books available in Shanghai were the books the students brought with them, in addition to the Talmud volumes sent to Kobe, the few books and Talmud volumes found in the Beit Aharon synagogue, and the few books borrowed from the small Jewish community in Shanghai. Some of the books were torn and tattered, and the limited number of complete copies, combined with the fact they changed hands frequently, only wore them further (Mo'ach VaLev, p. 57; Sefer HaZikaron LeHagrach Shmulevitz, p. 73).

The lack of books prompted the refugees to initiate a book printing endeavor focused mainly on Jewish sacred books. Most of the books were printed by the various printing committees established by the Mir yeshiva (the Torah Or committee, the Ezrat Torah committee, and others), the Chabad printing committee of and the Mefitzei Or printing committee established by students of Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin (who came to Shanghai as individuals rather than as an organized group).

"The book shortage required a local solution. The Torah Or printing committee was established in Shanghai, and over the course of its existence, managed to print the entire Talmud – including Rav Alfas – and other books of the Rishonim, the Shulchan Aruch, and a long list of varied ethics books" (Moach VaLev, p. 58).

"The shortage of sacred books in China was acute. There was no previous local Jewish infrastructure they could use, and it was also impossible to import as the war blocked all import channels. The solution they found was to print books in local printing presses, where they produced photocopy editions" (Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah by Avishai Elbaum, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, p. 75).

The printing firms in Shanghai did not initially own Hebrew type, and most of the books were photocopied. At the time, photo-reproducing a book damaged the original irreparably (R. E. Hertzman, Nes HaHatzala shel Yeshivat Mir, p. 102). The committees searched for and collected Hebrew books they could reproduce. In one of the few synagogues in Shanghai, a complete set of the Babylonian Talmud was found, based on which they published the famous Shanghai Talmud. One of the students of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva discovered a damaged copy of Sfat Emet on Order Kodashim in the Harbin University library. He had the book reproduced in Shanghai, after completing (by deduction) the damaged letters (see in detail: Giborei HeChayil – Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin BiTekufat HaShoah, II, pp. 105-108).

After a while, Hebrew type was cast in Shanghai, which allowed the refugees to publish their original works – books of Jewish thought, books on Halacha, ethics and Chassidut. Jewish publishing in Shanghai began in autumn 1942 and continued until 1947, when the last of the refugees left the city for the United States and other countries.

"…Under the guidance of R. Chaim [Shmulevitz], the yeshiva operated in Shanghai as if that was its place and that is where it was destined to remain… even in the final year of its stay, when permits began to pour in and the situation appeared very temporary, the committee continued printing vigorously. Their temporary status did not hinder them in the least" (Mo'ach VaLev, p. 58). 

An early bibliographic list of the books published in Shanghai was printed in the Jewish Life in Shanghai exhibition catalog, published in New York, 1948 (the catalog, which was published in Yiddish, is included in the present collection, lot 164). A further bibliographic list was compiled by R. Avishai Elbaum of the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv, an expert on the topic of Jewish publishing in Shanghai. His list comprises 104 titles (Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah by Avishai Elbaum, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, pp. 75-86).

Jewish Publishing in Displaced Persons Camps – By and For She'erit Hapletah

The war declared by the Nazis on the Jewish people meant also war on its heritage and culture. This was manifested in an all-out war against the Jewish book; they burned thousands of books in city squares, confiscated books, prohibited Jews from owning them, and looted the largest Jewish libraries in Europe, including huge Beit Midrash and yeshiva libraries and important private collections. The story of the She'erit Hapletah publishing is the tale of the resurrection of the Jewish book and the spiritual rehabilitation of the Jewish people in Europe.

After the war, the Allies established DP camps in the various occupation zones (in Germany, Austria, and Italy), which housed thousands of refugees, many of whom were survivors of labor and extermination camps. Although these camps were a temporary facility, intended to allow the survivors to rehabilitate until they emigrated to other countries, the survivors began rebuilding their material and spiritual lives while there.

Rabbis, themselves survivors and living in the camps, worked towards rebuilding religious life, establishing synagogues and mikvaot, boys' schools and yeshivot. The shortage of basic ritual objects, including sacred books, was acute. Basic books, such as chumashim, siddurim and books of practical halacha, were especially needed. The large-scale publishing endeavor addressing this need was undertaken by the survivors themselves alongside the Vaad HaHatzala in Germany, an organization established by the American Agudath HaRabbanim.

Most of the books printed for the She'erit Hapletah are photocopy reproductions of books published in the last few decades before the war. The publishers sometimes used a single surviving copy; for instance, the first volume of the Munich Talmud (item 166) was reproduced from a single copy of Tractates Kiddushin and Nedarim which was preserved in a Catholic convent. The rest was reproduced from a single set of Talmud found buried in the Jewish cemetery in Vilna (R. Avishai Elbaum, Defusei Shanghai VeShe'erit Hapletah, HaMaayan, vol. 40, issue 3, Nisan 2000, p. 78).

Within a few years, over one hundred titles were printed, including siddurim, books of halacha and Jewish thought, and many Chassidic books (see Elbaum's bibliographic list, ibid.). The publishing enterprise carried out by She'erit Hapletah bear admirable testimony to the rejuvenation of the People of the Book after the Holocaust.

Babylonian Talmud – complete set. Munich-Heidelberg, 1948. "Published by the Union of Rabbis in the American Occupation Zone in Germany".
After WWII, the demand for Talmud and holy books by surviving Jews congregated in the DP camps exceeded the few copies that were available for the refugees. From 1946, the "Union of Rabbis" in Germany, with the assistance of the American army and the JDC, began to print the Talmud for survivors. At first, only a few tractates were printed in various formats. In 1948, the present edition – a complete edition of the Talmud – was printed for the first time. Each volume contains two title pages. The first title page was especially designed to commemorate the printing of the Talmud on the scorched soil of Germany; on its upper part is an illustration of a Jewish town with the caption "From slavery to redemption and from darkness to great light"; on its lower part is an illustration of barbed wire fences and a labor camp, with the captions: "Labor camp in Germany during Nazi era", "They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts" (Psalms 119).
19 volumes. 39 cm. Some dry paper. Overall good condition. Stains. Stamps. Original bindings, with new leather spines. Damage to bindings, with wear and rubbing to corners and sides.

Three letters handwritten by the writer Émile Zola, sent after he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and fled to England. Signed by the pseudonyms "Pascal", "J. Beauchamp" and "Z". London, 1898. French.
The French writer and publicist Émile Zola (1840-1902) was one of the major supporters of Alfred Dreyfus when he was indicted in 1895 of high treason and spying for Germany. In 1897, Zola published a series of articles defending Dreyfus and in January 1898, published in the newspaper "L'Aurore" the article "J'Accuse…!" – an open letter to the French president in which he accused military leaders, the War Office and the military court of miscarriage of justice. The publication of the letter caused a stir in France, and having been brought to trial for libel and sentenced to a year in prison, Zola fled to England.
On July 19, 1898, with nothing but a note with the name of The Grosvenor Hotel, Zola descended the train at Victoria Station in London. Zola's time in England was one of the darkest in his life and during this period, he communicated with a small handful of friends only, by means of notes and short letters. Fearing the French police will track him down, these letters were economical and laconic in style. He almost never mentioned his acquaintances by their name and signed by various pseudonyms. Only in June 1899, after the French Supreme Court declared that Dreyfus would be retried, did Zola return to his country.
Offered here are three letters that Zola had written in London:
1. A Letter from July 20, 1898 (a day after Zola arrived in England), written on The Grosvenor Hotel stationery, being an attempt to set up a meeting at the hotel. At the end of the letter, Zola writes: "Ask for Mr. Pascal". (The name Pascal, a homage to the hero of the novel Zola had published in 1893 – Le Docteur Pascal, was used in only a few letters and was changed due to the possibility that it might raise the suspicion of French-speakers).
[1] leaf (one written page).
2. A letter from August 4, 1898. Presumably sent to Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (an English writer and journalist who translated Zola's works into English). In the letter, Zola informs the recipient that his new bicycle does not fit his size: "the bicycle Mr. Wareham rented for me does not fit. The handlebars are not high enough and when I want to turn around, they hit my knees…". Signed: "J. Beauchamp" (This name was used by Zola during his stay in the Oatlands Park Hotel on the outskirts of London; Zola rode a bicycle for the first time in 1893 and immediately fell in love with the new vehicle. In order to cheer him up in his difficult situation, his friends in London, Ernest Vizetelly and his wife Maria, decided to find him a new bicycle).
[1] folded leaf (two written pages).
3. An undated letter, announcing the arrival of Zola's wife to England: "I received a letter from my wife confirming her arrival tomorrow night, Tuesday. Fasquelle is supposed to inform you, but since she fears he might forget, I ask you this favor. Even if you do not receive any notice, go to Victoria Station and wait for the five o'clock train. If you find no one, send me a note […] I will be desperate if my wife arrives without finding you". Signed: "Z".
[1] leaf (two written pages).
Three letters. Approx. 18 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. An open tear to top of first letter (small; not affecting text).

A large rug decorated with grape vines and clusters of grapes. Made at the Marbadiah workshop at the Bezalel Art School. Jerusalem, [approximately 1923/1924].
Wool knot-pile; cotton foundation.
The central panel contains three diamond-shaped medallions, depicting scrolling vines and grape clusters on a pale-colored background, surrounded by a similar design on a darker background. The central and widest of three borders running along the circumference of the rug depicts alternating pairs of deer and grape clusters, while the outer border shows a motif of peacocks and flower vases. Signed "Marbadiah Jerusalem" (Hebrew) in the margin.
An original tag sewn verso states “Marbadiah Jerusalem” and “Made in Palestine”.
260X336 cm. Good-fair condition. Some damage, loss and repairs to the pile, base and edges. Some color run. Suspension strip sewn to lower edge verso.
Literature: Jewish Carpets, by Anton Felton. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1997. p. 119.
Provenance: the Anton Felton collection.