Auction 41 · Lot 234

Sephirath Ha’Omer im Tsiyurim Naim. Written and engraved by Mordecai Donat in Nitra [A compedium for Counting of the 49 days of the Omer].

Estimate: $6,000–$8,000
Hammer price: $11,000

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

(MINIATURE BOOK).

Place

Nitra

Publication

1834

Description

17 engraved historiated leaves. Title illustration of Moses and Aaron. Each page within elegant decorative cartouche. Includes depictions of lions, goats, peacocks, various types of floral and geometric patterns. With additional prayer in Menorah-form. Verso of title and final page contain in the most minute letters the entire Shir HaShirim (which is recited on Passover) and the entire Book of Ruth (which is recited on Shavuoth), constituting the beginning and end of the Sephirath Ha’Omer cycle.

references

Vinograd, Nitra 1.

summary

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE. AN EXTRAORDINARY FEAT OF FINE PRINTING. According to Vinograd this Sephirath Ha’Omer is the only publication printed in Nitra. Although see Swann Galleries, December 17th, 1989 Lot 259 for an engraved Esther Scroll also by Mordechai Sopher published the same year in Nitra in the same artistic style as this Sephirath Ha’Omer. See also I. Benoschofsky and A. Scheiber, The Jewish Museum of Budapest (1987), no. 203 (illustrated).

* Bound with: Another Text. Prague, 1830. Worn. Contemporary calf, heavily rubbed. 16mo.

Enquire about this lot