Bidspirit auction | (BUKHARIA). Nechemiah Mizrachi (Ed.) Derech

(BUKHARIA). Nechemiah Mizrachi (Ed.) Derech HaYashar LehaYeladim [dictionary, with ethics for children, in poetic verse]. With Judeo-Persian (Parsi) translation. FIRST EDITION. Woodcut of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on title-page. ff. 28. Lightly worn and soiled. Modern boards. 12mo. Halevi, Jerusalem 63. Jerusalem, Yisrael Bak, 1862. Judeo-Persian Children’s Book. Represents the first printed text for the Bukharian Jews, published in Jerusalem at the dawn of their Aliyah to the Land of Israel. Exceptionally rare, Halevi records this work based upon a single copy located in the Library of Machon Ben Zvi, Jerusalem. (Another copy appeared in Kestenbaum Sale 57, lot 43). Apparently, upon publication, copies were sent to Caucasia, Dagistan and Persia, and almost no copies remained in Eretz Israel or the West. Unknown to Yaari who lists the first Jewish book in Parsi as printed more than two decades later, in 1883. See Yaari, Siphrei Yehudei Bukhara, in: Kiryat Sepher Vol. XVIII pp. 378-93. The First Book for Children Printed in the Land of Israel.