Bidspirit auction | Likutei Amarim (Tanya) – First

Likutei Amarim (Tanya) – First Edition – Slavita, 1796 – Complete Schocken Library Copy, with Wide Margins – Proceeds of Sale Will Be Donated to the Renovation of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Ohel - Likutei Amarim [Tanya], Part I: Sefer Shel Beinonim, with Part II: Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, by R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe. Slavita: [R. Moshe Shapira], 1796. First edition, printed in the author's lifetime. Approbations by two disciples of the Maggid of Mezeritch printed at the beginning of the book – R. Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli and R. Yehudah Leib HaKohen of Anipoli. The author's introduction (a 1795 letter) is printed afterwards. The book was printed anonymously (the author’s name appears neither on the title page nor in the two approbations or the author’s introduction). It was printed over the course of three months: the approbations are dated Tuesday, Ki Tavo, 17th Elul 1796, and the colophon at the end of the book is dated Tuesday, 20th Kislev 1796. Published by R. Shalom Shachna Altschuler (son-in-law of the Alter Rebbe and father of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch) and his partner. Variant colophon: the present copy is signed by ”the worker… Elazar son of… R. Tzvi Hirsch of Slavita” (other copies are signed by ”the typesetter… Avraham Tzvi son of R. Eliezer Katz”). This edition is uniquely valuable as a completely uncensored text, unlike most later editions. The first edition of this book included only the first two parts: ”Part I, called Sefer Shel Beinonim, based on the verse 'For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to perform it', explaining thoroughly how it is very close…” – the elements of service of G-d, and ”Part II, called Chinuch Katan [called Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah on the page headers]… based on the first section of the Shema reading” – the elements of faith in G-d's unity. Early ownership inscription at top of title page: ”Belongs to Yehudah Leib son of R. Tzvi. Who purchases this book acquires the life of the World to Come”. Rare and exceptional copy, in unaltered original condition, untrimmed and unbound. Approximately half of the leaves display especially wide margins (the text was not printed in the center of the sheets; consequently, some leaves retain exceptionally broad margins – in some places nearly half the width of the text column – whereas the others show normal margins). This book of Tanya is being auctioned from the estate of the noted philanthropist Refael Shlomo Drimmer (1951-2022), a distinguished Chabad Chassid in Brooklyn, and a descendant of R. Shlomo Drimmer, head of the Beit Din of Skala-Podilska, author of Yashresh Yaakov and Responsa Beit Shlomo. Reb Shlomo was famous for his generosity and his many acts of charity, and he supported Torah and charitable institutions open-handedly. He was dedicated to communal work, and promoted peace and reconciliation. He was a follower of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and served as a member of the central Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshiva administration, and as a council member in the Crown Heights neighborhood. For some three decades, Reb Shlomo collected antique manuscripts and rare and valuable books. At the request of the family, all proceeds from the sale of this Tanya will support a renovation project of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Ohel. [3], 4-86 leaves. 19 cm (width of leaves up to 13 cm). Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Minor defects and tears. Worming to most leaves, affecting text, repaired with paper. Stamps of the Schocken Library in Jerusalem in margins of title leaf and last leaf. New endpapers (sewn on); without binding. Provenance: • Schocken Collection, Jerusalem (purchased before May 16, 1946). • Sotheby's, London, December 1993, Lot 265. • Judaica Jerusalem, April 2008, Lot 757. • Estate of Shlomo Drimmer, Brooklyn, New York. The Main Tanya Editions, Parts Printed During the Author's Lifetime and Posthumously The first edition of the Tanya printed by the Alter Rebbe in Slavita (Slavuta) contained the first part of the book (53 chapters) and the second part (Chinuch Katan – Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, 12 chapters). The title page and page headers name the book Likutei Amarim (later editions would also call it Tanya). This edition bears no traces of censorship. In 1799 and the first decade of the 1800s, four more editions of the Tanya were printed in Żółkiew, Galicia (present-day Zhovkva, Ukraine), including the first appearance of Part III: the earliest version of Igeret HaTeshuvah. In 1806, the Alter Rebbe printed his book for a second time in Shklow, including the final version of Igeret HaTeshuvah, with improvements in wording, additional explanation and with a division into twelve chapters. This edition contains added approbations by the rabbis of Shklow and Kopust, and is likewise free of censorship. A year and a half after the passing of the Alter Rebbe, the author's sons printed a third edition of the Tanya (Shklow, 1814),