Bidspirit auction | Sefer Tehillim – Rare Edition

Sefer Tehillim – Rare Edition – Berlin, c. 1700 * Sefer Tehillim by King David, with vowels and ta’amim (cantillation marks). The verses are numbered in the margins alongside the lines. An exceptionally rare edition, printed approximately 325 years ago. The Institute for Hebrew Bibliography does not record it, nor does the National Library of Israel hold it. Fine illustrated title page. Berlin, c. 1700. Page Count: [45] leaves. (There is a known edition from the same period with an additional prayer leaf at the end. It is unknown whether that extra leaf was also printed in this edition.) Size: 17.8 cm. Condition: Fair. Holes throughout the volume. Antique binding with vellum spine and corner pieces. Signatures of Dovid Segal and Simchah, son of Yaakov Segal. Additional inscriptions in Latin script. Provenance: William Gross collection, Tel Aviv. - - - - - - - - - - - - Tehillim Published in Berlin in Early 1700s Several editions of Tehillim were printed in Berlin in the early 1700s, in a variety of sizes, all bearing very similar title pages. Some identify the printer, while others also include the year of publication. The present edition, however, does not state either the printer or the publishing date. Only one Berlin edition from this period — different from the present copy — is recorded by the Institute for Hebrew Bibliography. The bibliographer Moses Steinschneider, pioneer of modern Jewish bibliography, lists several Berlin editions from these years. The present copy may correspond to the edition he tentatively dated to circa 1701; see Winograd, no. 25. The National Library of Israel also records a Berlin edition tentatively dated to around 1700, based on a copy preserved in the Parma Library. This may be the same edition as the present copy (catalog record no. 997012882741305171).