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Auction 31 · Lot 1
Korban Aharon [extensive commentary to the Sifra with an essay on hermeneutics]
Hammer price $800
Read the sale report
Hebrew and Other
Printed Books Sold at
Kestenbaum & Company
on December 13th, 2005
Kestenbaum & Company held an auction of Fine Judaica on December 13th which included the second and final part of a collection of Hebrew Printed Books consigned from the Library of a dedicated Bibliophile as well as books consigned from other sources. Offered in the sale were numerous selections of Americana, 16th-18th century Hebrew Bibles, Bindings, Hagadahs, Liturgies, Anglo and French Judaic books. Also presented were many works of historic interest offered in all price ranges.
Buyers were drawn to a beautifully composed Kabbalistic “Tree” or diagram of the arrangement of the spiritual cosmos, handwritten on a long parchment scroll by an unidentified female scribe around the year 1700. Estimated at $15,000-20,000, it ultimately sold for $44,840 after competitive bidding. Another eye-catching lot was a French, 16th century Hebrew Bible in a fine contemporary Grolier-style binding. In five volumes, this distinctive binding with gilt-tooled polished calf craftsmanship realized $23,600.
A highlight in the French-Judaica section was a work featuring three Biblical books (Isaiah, Joel and Ruth) bound in one volume with commentary by prominent French Hebraist Antoine Rodolphe Chevalier, Paris, which brought in $25,960.
In the Hagadah section, buyers favored the first Hagadah printed in Eastern Europe, with commentary by Isaac Abrabanel, Bistrowitz, 1592, which was purchased for $15,340. The first Hagadah printed in London, 1770, was also noteworthy, garnering $8,850 against an estimate of $5,000-7,000.
Other notable lots included a complete collection of visually stunning plates of the Land of Israel by van de Velde, Paris, 1857, which reached $12,980 and a 16th century edition of the Kol Bo (Rabbinic law), Rimini, which realized $20,060 against an estimate of $10,000-15,000.
Additionally of interest was a fascinating pre-State of Israel Telephone Directory, the first such publication in British Mandate Palestine, in mint condition from 1935, which was purchased for $3,540; The Religious Ceremonies and Customs by Bernard Picart with engraved plates of Jewish ritual life--an invaluable pictorial record of Jewish life in 18th century Holland which sold for $1,416; and from the Americana section, a work by the celebrated American poet Emma Lazarus--Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death and Other Poems, New York, 1882, which reached $1,298 against a pre-sale estimate of $600-800.
Lots in this auction
Browse all 287 lots →![Atereth Zekeinim [the fundamentals of Jewish belief, and the advent of the Messiah]](/media/catalog/product/0/3/031_002.jpg?w=640)
Auction 31 · Lot 2
Atereth Zekeinim [the fundamentals of Jewish belief, and the advent of the Messiah]
Hammer price $1,700
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Auction 31 · Lot 3
Divrei Rivoth [“Matters of Disputes”: responsa]
Hammer price $600
Auction 31 · Lot 4
Tachkemoni
Hammer price $2,600
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Auction 31 · Lot 5
Shevilei Emunah [An astronomical, medical, ethical and kabbalistic encyclopedia]
Hammer price $1,800
![Sepher Ikarim [“Book of Principles": Theology]](/media/catalog/product/0/3/031_006.jpg?w=640)
Auction 31 · Lot 6
Sepher Ikarim [“Book of Principles": Theology]
Hammer price $450
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Auction 31 · Lot 7
Sepher Rav Alfas [Rabbinic Code]
Hammer price $700
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Auction 31 · Lot 8
Alim li-Teruphah [“Leaves for Healing”: Letters of moral instruction by Moses Nachmanides and Elijah, Gaon of Vilna]. Appended: Rabbenu Asher, Orchoth Chaim
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Auction 31 · Lot 9
Eiduth bi-Yehoseph [“Testimony in Joseph”: Responsa; appended commentary on Maimonides’ code]
Hammer price $1,800
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Auction 31 · Lot 10
Yedai Moshe [homilies to the Five Scrolls]
Hammer price $225
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Auction 31 · Lot 11
Farissol, Abraham. Igereth Orchoth Olam [“The Ways of the World”: Cosmography ]
Hammer price $1,000
Auction 31 · Lot 12
NOAH, MORDECAI MANUEL. The Fortress of Sorrento: A Petit Historical Drama, in Two Acts
Hammer price $1,000
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Auction 31 · Lot 13
FLEURY, CLAUDE. A Short History of the Ancient Israelites. With an Account of their Manners, Customs, Laws etc
Hammer price $150
Auction 31 · Lot 14
Mordecai M. Noah. Travels in England, France, Spain, and the Barbary States, in the Years 1813-4 and 1815
Hammer price $4,000
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Auction 31 · Lot 15
Myers, M[ordecai]. In Assembly, March 17, 1832. Report of the minority of the committee, on the militia and public defence
Hammer price $250
Auction 31 · Lot 16
Blank application for citizenship on stationery of Joseph Simon Cohen, Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
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Auction 31 · Lot 17
(Isaac Leeser). Second Annual Examination of the Sunday School for Religious Instruction of Israelites in Philadelphia, Held at the Synagogue Mikveh Israel...Together with a Prayer by Isaac Leeser and an Address by Moses N. Nathan
Hammer price $2,400
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Auction 31 · Lot 18
MILMAN, HENRY HART. The History of the Jews, Fom the Earliest Period to the Present Time
Hammer price $150
Auction 31 · Lot 19
The Occident and American Jewish Advocate. A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Diffusion of Jewish Knowledge. Edited by Isaac Leeser
Auction 31 · Lot 20
(Isaac Leeser, “The Jews and Their Religion”). pp. 350-69 In: I. Daniel Rupp, An Original History of the Religious Denominations At Present Existing in the United States
Hammer price $1,600
![Mackenzie, William L. The Lives and Opinions of Benj[ami]n Franklin Butler, United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Jesse Hoyt, Counsellor at Law, formerly Collector of Customs for the Port of New York](/media/catalog/product/0/3/031_021.jpg?w=640)
Auction 31 · Lot 21
Mackenzie, William L. The Lives and Opinions of Benj[ami]n Franklin Butler, United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Jesse Hoyt, Counsellor at Law, formerly Collector of Customs for the Port of New York
Auction 31 · Lot 22
Constitution and By-Laws of the American Jewish Publication Society
Hammer price $2,200
Auction 31 · Lot 23
In Senate of the United States. August 9, 1850…The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to whom was referred the memorial of H.M. Salomon, for indemnification for advances of money made by his father during the revolutionary war
Hammer price $1,400
Auction 31 · Lot 24
Rev. M. J. Raphall. Bible View of Slavery. A Discourse, Delivered at the Jewish Synagogue, “Bnai Jeshurun,” New York, on the Day of the National Fast, Jan. 4, 1861
Hammer price $1,400