“ON ACCOUNT OF THE RIGHTEOUS WOMEN WE WERE REDEEMED FROM EGYPT”: 1717 JEWISH LITURGY IN SPANISH, PRINTED FOR THE DUTCH SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY, IN BEAUTIFUL CONTEMPORARY MOROCCO GILT

JUDAICA. Orden de las Oraciones de Ros-Asanah y Kipur. WITH: Orden de las Oraciones de los Cinco Ayunos. Amsterdam: Selomoh Proops, (1717). Together, two volumes. 12mo, contemporary full crimson morocco gilt rebacked, original elaborately gilt-decorated spines laid down, elaborately gilt decorated covers, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $5500.

Early edition of this liturgical publication printed entirely in Spanish for the Sephardim and Marranos of Amsterdam, the first to be published by the renowned Hebrew printer Solomon Proops, very handsomely bound in full contemporary morocco gilt.

These two Jewish prayer books comprise the prayers for Rosh-Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the five fast days, in Spanish for use by the vibrant Sephardic and Marrano communities of Amsterdam, which were largely descended from Spanish refugees from the Inquisition. "In the 18th century, the dominant figure in Amsterdam Hebrew printing became [Solomon] Proops… The press remained in the family until 1849 and was as important to Amsterdam as Bragadini was to Venice" (Encyclopaedia Judaica). Beginning in 1715, Proops began advertising other works for sale at the end of each of his publications (he was the first to publish a sales catalogue of Hebrew books); at the end of each volume can be found his advertisement, "todas suertes de Libros Hebraicos y Españoles." Each volume bears a lovely engraved title page by I. Van Sasse incorporating vignettes of Biblical scenes, highlighting women of the Bible (one with the legend "Por mugeres pias salimos de Egipto," i.e., "On account of the righteous women we were redeemed from Egypt"). The popular work Orden de… Ros-Asanah y Kipur first appeared in Amsterdam in 1617 (the first appearance in Spanish was the Ferrara edition of 1553); Los Cinco Ayunos first appeared in Amsterdam in 1695. Kayserling 64.