Auction 109 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Megillot and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Tikun Leil Shavuot and Hoshana Rabba – Slavita, 1827
Opening: $6,000
Sold for: $7,500
Including buyer's premium
Tikun Leil Shavuot and Hoshana Rabba, based on the Shlah, with Kavanot from the Arizal. Slavita: R. Shmuel Avraham Shapira, son of the Rabbi of Slavita, 1827.
Some words on title page printed in red ink.
Faded stamps on verso of title page: "Natan Shraga son of R. Shimshon Zelig Kis[s?] – his wife Pesse Rachel daughter of Moshe Aharon the martyr".
[2], 165 leaves. 20 cm. Partly bluish paper. Most leaves in good-fair condition, first leaves in fair condition. Stains. Wear and signs of use to first leaves. Worming to several leaves, affecting text. Tears. Close trimming, affecting text on title page and other leaves. Inner margins of title page repaired with paper, covering parts of text. One leaf mostly detached. Old binding, worn, with spine repaired.
Another edition was printed concurrently, with [2], 135 leaves. The present edition has known variants between copies in details of censor's name and slight typographical variants (see Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, listing 000303939).
The Slavita Printing Press, Founded by R. Moshe Shapira, Rabbi of Slavita
The Jewish printing press in Slavita (present-day Slavuta, Khmelnytskyi Province, Western Ukraine) operated between 1790 and 1836. The founder of the printing press was the Rabbi of the city, R. Moshe Shapira (1762-1840), son of the renowned R. Pinchas of Korets. Already in his youth, he showed exceptional talent in scribal writing, tracing, carving and etching.
His illustrious father encouraged him to develop his talent to master these skills. In the early 1790s, R. Moshe was appointed Rabbi of Slavita, yet he concurrently established his famous printing press, not wishing to utilize Torah as a livelihood. The typeface used in the printing press was fashioned by R. Moshe. Apart from the printing press, he also established workshops for production of the paper and type. A large portion of Slavita's Jews earned their livelihood honorably in one of the many divisions of the printing firm.
Slavita books were reputed in the Jewish world for their beauty, splendor and accuracy; as well as for the owner of the press, R. Moshe, who was revered by the great Chassidic leaders. R. Moshe of Slavita was close to the Baal HaTanya, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who commended him as "exceptional in Torah, fear of G-d is his treasure, of holy descent". Sipurim Nora'im by R. Yaakov Keidner (Lviv, 1875) relates the wondrous account of how the Baal HaTanya assisted R. Moshe in attaining a government license for his printing press.
A special advantage of this printing press was that it only produced sacred books, and its type was never desecrated by secular books. Most of the workers were G-d-fearing Jews. According to a famous Chassidic tradition, the equipment and type were immersed in a mikveh before use (regarding the printing press in Slavita, see [in Hebrew]: Haim Dov Friedberg, History of Printing in Poland, Tel Aviv, 1950, p. 104; Ch. Lieberman, Ohel Rachel, I, New York, 1980, pp. 199-202; Sh.D.B. Levine, History of Chabad in Tsarist Russia, Brooklyn, 2010, p. 61). Chassidic masters especially prized siddurim and books printed in holiness in the Slavita press for prayer and study.
Books Printed in Slavita and Zhitomir
Books Printed in Slavita and Zhitomir