Sefer Minhagim, With Illustrations – Amsterdam, 1662

Sefer Minhagim, With Illustrations – Amsterdam, 1662

Sefer Minhagim, by R. Shimon HaLevi Günzburg. Amsterdam: Uri Phoebus son of Aharon HaLevi, 1662. Yiddish integrated with Hebrew.

Illustrated title page, with figures of people, angels, fish and Biblical scenes.

31 fine woodcut illustrations printed throughout the book. In addition to these illustrations appear 12 small illustrations of agriculture and zodiacs according to the months of the year.

The Yiddish Minhagim was first printed in Venice, 1589. The first edition was printed without illustrations; in 1593, another edition was printed along with 32 fine woodcut illustrations throughout the book. These illustrations became an integral part of Sefer Minhagim in the subsequent editions. They became highly familiar and were reused many times over the 17th and 18th century, even in other books such as Passover Haggadot, Birkat HaMazon and various other Yiddish books.

The present edition was printed leaf by leaf after the Amsterdam 1645 edition. The last three leaves contain a calendar for 1662-1675. All copies of the present edition have the end of leaf 68 interrupted in the middle, and the last page of Sefer Minhagim went unprinted. A possible explanation is that the printer decided to reduce the calendar, which covered six and a half leaves in the Amsterdam 1645 edition, to four leaves, in order to avoid printing an additional gathering, leading to the text of the last page being omitted.

Signature on title page: "Shmuel son of R. Yaakov".

3, 5-69, [3] leaves. Vast majority of leaf 4 lacking, with only small part remaining. 17.5 cm. Fair condition. Many stains, including dampstains and paint stains. Much wear. Many tears and open tears, to title page and other leaves, affecting title frame and text, partially repaired with tape. New binding.

CB, no. 3823; Roest, p. 460.

L. Fuks and R.G. Fuks-Mansfeld, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands, Leiden 1987, no. 296.

Laurence Sigal-Klagsbald, Alexis Merle du Bourg and Juliette Braillon-Philippe (eds.), Rembrandt et la nouvelle Jérusalem, Paris: Panama musées, 2007, no. 20 (contains facsimile of the present copy).

Adri K. Offenberg, Emile G.L. Schrijver and F.J. Hoogewoud, Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana Treasures of Jewish Booklore, marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Leeser Rosenthal, 1794-1994. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1994, no. 16, pp. 36-37.