Bidspirit auction | One of the Earliest Jewish

One of the Earliest Jewish Prayer Books Printed in Holland! Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Including Selichot – Dordrecht, 1584 – Extremely Rare - Orden de Roshasanah y Kipur – Machzor containing the prayers for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, including the Selichot service, translated into Spanish. Dordrecht, Holland [imprint: Mainz], printed by P. Verhagen for Jacob Israel (Yahacob Israel), 1584. Incomplete copy. An exceptionally early and extremely rare edition of outstanding historical and bibliographical importance: among the very first Jewish prayer books printed in Holland for the Jews of Spain and Portugal, during the formative period of Jewish communal life in the country. To the best of our knowledge, the present Machzor is considered the first High Holiday prayer book printed in Holland for the Sephardic Jewish community. The first part of the Machzor, containing the prayers for the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, had appeared approximately two months earlier. The exceptional significance of this Machzor also lies in the period in which it was printed. In 1584, Jewish settlement in Holland was still in its infancy, years before the establishment of the organized Jewish community of Amsterdam, which would eventually become one of the most important and flourishing centers of European Jewry. The present volume is therefore an exceedingly rare testimony to the earliest development of Jewish religious and liturgical life among the Jews of Spain and Portugal in Holland, long before the great flourishing of Amsterdam Jewry in the seventeenth century. The Disguised Place of Printing – The ”Machzor Maguntia” A particularly fascinating bibliographical detail appears in the colophon at the end of the volume, where the city of Mainz (Maguntia) is stated as the place of printing. For this reason, the Machzor is sometimes referred to as ”Machzor Maguntia” – the Mainz Machzor. However, according to the currently accepted bibliographical identification, Mainz was a fictitious place of printing, apparently intended to mislead the Christian censorship authorities and conceal the actual location of the printing press. The Machzor was in fact printed in Dordrecht, Holland, at the printing house of P. Verhagen, through the initiative and financial support of Jacob Israel. The deliberate concealment of the place of printing adds another fascinating historical dimension to this remarkable volume, reflecting the complex circumstances under which Jews of Spanish origin conducted their religious and printing activities in late sixteenth-century Europe. Its extraordinary rarity, early date, and importance in the history of Hebrew printing in Holland make this Machzor an exceptional bibliographical and historical treasure. Collation: [241], 248–327 leaves. Six leaves missing (242–247). 15 cm. Condition: Good. Age stains. Minor wormholes in the first six leaves. Minor restorations. Attractive new vellum binding.