Hebrew. PSALMS). Seder Tehilim and Ma’amadoth

(BIBLE,

Moshe Ben Betzalel Katz

Prague

1613

Hebrew text printed with vowel-points (Nikud). Divided according to the Days of the Week. Title within woodcut border. Separate similar title for Ma’amadoth printed on verso of final leaf of the Psalms

A Fine Copy of an Entirely Unknown Hebrew Psalter. A most intriguing volume, with unusual typography and type-ornament. From the onset of Hebrew printing in Prague in 1512 until the middle of the 17th-century this Psalter is one of just a handful of Hebrew books printed in this small 16mo format. It is not recorded in the detailed study by B. Nosek, Katalog ausgewählter hebräischer Drucke Prager Provenienz I-II in: Judaica Bohemiae vols. X,1 & XI,1 (1974-75). Similarly unknown to Otto Muneles, Bibliographical Survey of Jewish Prague (1952), nor all other related bibliographies. A similar such Psalter with a corresponding woodcut title page, but with a later date of 1621 was sold by Kestenbaum & Company, 23rd June, 1998, Lot 38. That item also contained a second title-page on the verso of the final leaf of the Tehillim with precisely the same type, lay-out and decorative border used for the first title, only changing the title-word “Tehilim” to “Ma’amadoth.” However, that later 1621 Tehillim was followed by some 50 blank leaves of contemporary paper and no indication as to the printer. The present copy solves the bibliographic riddle, as it contains the complete text of the Ma'amadoth, plus a colophon and printer’s mark. The printer’s name is explicitly listed - Moses ben Joseph Betzalel Katz, Mechokek, the typesetter is also listed as Yehudah ben Alexander Katz known as “Leib Zetzer” (typsetter) of Prague Altogether, a higly rare little book in very fine condition