Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Tanya

(CHASSIDISM)

n.p. After

(Kopyst)

1814

Title within typographic border. Former owner's inscription (1862) on front flyleaf

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)

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