Haggada, ou Ceremoniel des Deux Premieres Soirees de Paque a l’usage des Israélites francais

AUCTION 14 | Tuesday, November 13th, 2001 at 1:00
Important Hebrew Printed Books and Manuscripts From the Library of the London Beth Din

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Lot 193
(HAGADAH).

Haggada, ou Ceremoniel des Deux Premieres Soirees de Paque a l’usage des Israélites francais

Hebrew and French on facing pages, translated by David Drach. With foreword by the Elders of the Paris Consistoire pp. (7), 127. Stained in places. Contemporary gilt-tooled calf-backed patterned boards, rubbed. 8vo Yudlov 598; Yaari 428

Metz: E. Hadamard 1818

Est: $800 - $1,200
PRICE REALIZED $700
The first translation of the Passover Hagadah into the French language. This copy formerly in the posession of members of the d’Aguilar Family:- of Marrano origin, prominent in English, French and American Society. David Drach, (1791-1865), born in Strasbourg, received a traditional rabbinic education. In 1813, he married a daughter of Emmanuel Deutz, the Chief Rabbi of France. Thereafter he was appointed head of the Jewish School of Paris, also publishing translations of traditional liturgical texts. On Easter 1823, Drach scandalized French Jewry, having himself baptized into the Catholic Church amidst much pomp and ceremony. He then spent nearly two years seeking to obtain parental control of his three children whom his wife had secretly taken to London. See EJ, VI col.191