Bidspirit auction | Roman-Rite Machzor, Part II –

Roman-Rite Machzor, Part II – Printed on Parchment – Mantua, 1559 – Schocken Copy - Roman-rite machzor, Part II, with prayers for high holidays and Tishrei festivals. Mantua: [Yaakov Kohen of Gazzuolo for Meir son of R. Efraim of Mantua], 1559. Complete copy, printed entirely on parchment. Includes Selichot for Elul and Ten Days of Repentance, order of prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, prayers for Sukkot, Hoshanot, prayers for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, and confession for the deathbed. Colophon on leaf 522: ”Complete during Hanukkah [1559]… We began the printing three years ago and tarried until now… as we were compelled to print other books in the meanwhile, namely Livyat Chen, Tikunei Zohar, Maarechet HaElohut, Toldot Yitzchak, Chovat HaLevavot, Mekor Chaim, Machzor Gadol and the Zohar which we are currently printing…” (referring to the first edition of the Zohar then printed in Mantua). Handwritten gloss (trimmed) on p. 384b. Censorship expurgation of one work by scraping on p. 115a (the word Adinah, a poetic circumlocution for Rome). Pencil inscriptions on endpaper and inside binding, handwritten by Salman Schocken. Another handwritten inscription on endpaper. Signature of censor ”Giovanni Domenico Carretto”, dated 1618(?), on last life; on verso, under colophon, signature of censor ”Domenico Gerosolimitano”, dated 1602(?). [1], 250-532 leaves. Approx. 15 cm. Good condition. Stains. Fading of ink on title page and other leaves (apparently an original defect due to printing on parchment; most text faded on two pages, with partial handwritten replacements to one). Punctures and open tears in a few places, slightly affecting text. Old binding, with wear and defects. References: 1. Aron Freimann, Die hebräischen Pergamentdrucke, Zeitschrift für hebräische Bibliographie, 15, Frankfurt a. M., 1911, p. 83, no. 82 (Freiman mentions three copies located in the British Library, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the National Library of France). 2. Brad Sabin Hill, Catalogue of Hebrew Books Printed on Vellum, in: Books Printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library, compiled by R. C. Alston. London, British Library, 1996, p. 208 (C.49.b.10-11.). Provenance: 1. Schocken collection, Jerusalem. 2. Sotheby's, New York, March 1999, Lot 25.