Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Tanya

AUCTION 28 | Tuesday, April 05th, 2005 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: The Library of the late Professor Abraham J. Karp.

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

Lot 107
(CHASSIDISM)

Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Tanya

Title within typographic border. Former owner's inscription (1862) on front flyleaf ff. (1), 36, 41-44, (4), 6, (30). Printer's error: In Part I of Tanya (Likkutei Amarim), f.12r. follows f.8v. Browned. Contemporary marbled boards, rubbed. 8vo Vinograd, Kopyst 97; Y. Mondschein, Sepher ha-Tanya (1981), no. 11 (II), pp. 68-71 (includes facsimiles); See also Sh. D.B. Avtzon, The History of the Tanya (1999)

(Kopyst): n.p. After 1814

Est: $800 - $1,200
PRICE REALIZED $700
There is considerable bibliographic debate concerning this edition. The late Chaim Liberman, librarian of Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, communicated to A.M. Habermann his suspicion that this edition was produced on an illegal press in Kopyst. (We know that Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz of Breslov maintained in his home such an illegal press, which produced his Likkutei Tephiloth.) See A.M. Habermann in “Sha'arei Chabad,” Alei Ayin (1951-2), pp. 310-311, no. 52. Liberman based his opinion upon stamped authorizations by Rabbi L. Jaffe of Kopyst, found in a few copies of the edition (but not ours). The consensus among bibliographers is that the date “1814” should not be taken at face value. Due to the difficulty in obtaining from the Tsarist government new permits to publish Hebrew works, printers would draw on earlier certifications. Consequently, it can only be assumed that this edition somewhat postdates 1814