Important Jewish and Israeli Material Offered in sale at Kedem Auction House
- by Michael Stillman
The passsport of Rebbe Aharon Rokeach.
Kedem Auction House of Jerusalem is hosting a major sale of Jewish and Israeli material on November 13. You don't have to be present in Jerusalem to participate. Collectors all over the world may bid by internet and telephone if the distance is too great.
The auction is titled Rare and Important Items, divided into three main sections. There are books, manuscripts & rabbinical letters, Jewish & Israeli history and culture, and objects - Judaica, Israeliana & Numismatics. The Kedem website can be selected to be read in either Hebrew or English, so fluency in Hebrew is not a requirement, though naturally enough, many of the old and historical writings are in the language of the Bible.
Here is an example of an older, historic book that is being offered. Lot 72 is a prayer book for the High Holy Days (Machzor) that was used in the Ashkenazi community of Padua in the early 18th century. It belonged to Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, rabbi and kabbalist. He was known as the Ramchal. That is an acronym taken from his Hebrew name, a manner in which some of the great Jewish scholars were addressed. His copy of the Machzor is particularly notable as it contains many notations written in the margins by the Ramchal. He served as chazan (cantor) during the services.
Lot 108 is a passport issued to Rebbe Aharon Rokeach of Belz, with his picture and signature. The Rebbe didn't use it. He had miraculously escaped the Holocaust as his followers managed to move him around from one place to another from his home near the Polish border. It was necessary as he was a target of the Nazis. When he made it to Budapest in Hungary, the Nazis demanded his extradition. Instead, his supporters smuggled him south through Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Syria, before he finally made it to the Holy Land. His brother also made it, but sadly, the Rebbe's wife, children, grandchildren, and most of his extended family were killed by the Nazis. This passport comes from after the war. It was issued by the Polish consul in Israel in 1948. His followers back in Europe wanted him to return and he planned for the trip. It turned out the plane ticket was for the day of his mother's Yahrzeit (remembrance). He said he never traveled on the day of a Yahrzeit, and managed to find reasons for never rescheduling, but stayed in Israel instead.
Lot 145 consists of 18 handwritten documents from the Inquisition in Bologna during the 15th century. This inquisition involved heresy, but it was not on the level of what was done to the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. Rather, it was mostly targeted at what were considered heretical Christian sects. One group of documents pertains to an investigation of the Musetti family, Abraham, his wife Bronella, and a family member named Decatilus, Jews from Bologna. They were claimed to have interfered with a Corpus Christi procession in 1445. It appears this may have been more of a personal dispute between family members and a couple of Christians. The papers likely belonged to the inquisitor.
There are many more historic and interesting books and documents to be found in this catalogue. Kedem Auction House may be found at the following link: www.kedem-auctions.com/.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.