Auction 109 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Megillot and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Davar BeIto – Livorno, 1653 – Songs for Circumcision, Pidyon HaBen, and More – Rare – Handwritten Prayers – Pocket Format
Opening: $500
Sold for: $2,000
Including buyer's premium
Davar BeIto, songs for circumcision, pidyon haben, weddings, prayers for the sick, mourners, and more. Livorno: Yedidiah son of R. Yitzchak Gabbai, author of Kaf Nachat, 1653. Pocket format.
Includes abridgment of Tzori LaNefesh, a confession and prayer for the sick attributed to R. Yehudah Aryeh of Modena.
At beginning and especially at end of volume, tens of blank leaves meant for keeping a mohel ledger; in the present copy no mohel ledger was kept, apart from birth and circumcision inscriptions by the book's owner, dating to 1703-1715, on first leaves at beginning of volume, in Italian cursive script.
On last blank leaves at end of volume, handwritten prayer with order of circumcision for an orphan.
Inside the front board, mounted leaf with handwritten prayer for "when the father is the mohel…".
54 leaves (bound with many other blank leaves). 10 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark dampstains to all leaves. Light wear. Worming to back endpapers (with handwritten prayer). Small open tears to front endpapers (with handwritten prayers), repaired with paper filling. Fine new leather binding.
Rare. One of the first books printed in Livorno.
The first Hebrew press in Livorno was founded in 1650 by Yedidiah Gabbai, son of R. Yitzchak Gabbai, author of the Kaf Nachat commentary on the Mishnah. It was active for only nine years, and Hebrew printing in Livorno was resumed only 82 years later. Yedidiah Gabbai's son Avraham immigrated to Izmir, where he established its first printing press; the Gabbai family press later moved to Salonika.
The end of this book, like others printed by the family, features three crowns (resembling the printer's device of Bragadin in Venice), with a caption playing on the Gabbai family name: "There are three crowns, and the crown of a good reputation is superior to them (Gabeihem)".
Stamp on endpaper: "From the books of Avraham Marx".
Provenance: Kestenbaum, New York, June 17, 2021, Lot 269.
Books Printed in Livorno – 18th-19th Centuries
Books Printed in Livorno – 18th-19th Centuries