HOROWITZ, CHAIM BEN DOV-BER HALEVI. Chibath Yerushalayim [descriptions of the Holy Sites of Eretz Israel]

(ISRAEL, LAND OF)

Israel Bak

“Jerusalem” (Lemberg?)

“1844” (1870?)

SECOND EDITION. Woodcut printer’s device on title (Yaari, Hebrew Printers' Marks 201) with Biblical verses surrounding. On f. 40r, an important historical handwritten marginalium stating: "Today, the Jews of Holland and Germany residing in Jerusalem, have a synagogue to call their own: 'Ahavath Zion' (founded 1852), wherein there is preserved the Aschkenazic rite of prayer…and upon his visit to Jerusalem, the philanthropist Samuel Rothschild donated 200 Francs to the synagogue.”

Vinograd, Jerusalem 29; Halevy 23 (illustrated) p. 15

Chibath Yerushalayim is a Jewish traveler’s guide to the Holy Land, with references to rabbinic literature. It was one of the first Hebrew books printed in Jerusalem by Israel Bak. The title-page of this edition is an exact copy of the Jerusalem edition that Shoshana Halevy deduces this is a pirated edition from Lemberg due to the addition of a haskamah by R. Aaron Moses Migeza Tzvi of Brody and a “Hakdamath HaMe'asef” (Compiler's Forward), resulting in the appearance of an extra leaf. However, there is a discrepancy. According to Halevy, the pirated edition has an erroneous "63" as the final leaf, whereas in our copy the final leaf is correctly numbered "60."