Soncino Pentateuch [Five Books of Moses]

Book Description

Berlin: Soncino Gesellschaft der Freunde de judischen Buches, 1930-1933. Boards. Near Fine. HEBREW BIBLE PUBLISHED AS NAZIS CAME TO POWER - One of the most remarkable printed Hebrew BiblesPENTATEUCH [FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES]. Berlin: Soncino Gesellschaft der Freunde de judischen Buches, 1930-1933. Original gray boards. Two volumes. Elaborate decorative title page printed in blue and brown. Elephant Folio. Printed on fine Van Gelder paper. Some age wear to boards. Minor water staining to rear board of first volume. Spines have been expertly rebacked, second volume retains its original mounted printed paper label. Minor foxing on a few pages, but text is entirely unaffected. Near Fine condition. EXQUISITE HEBREW TYPOGRAPHY. Considered by many to be the most beautiful Hebrew book ever printed, this unique version of the Pentateuch is one of 850 copies printed on specially watermarked Van Gelder paper with Ashkenazic types that were never used again. The Soncino-Gesellschaft, the society of Jewish bibliophiles, printed the Five Books of Moses as a poignant warning and message of hope to the Jews of Germany on the eve of the Nazis's rise to power. Selected verses appear in red (the entire text is printed in black except the following described 2 verses in red) and stand out in both form and content against the black-inked narrative of the remainder of the text. The first verse and the last verse of Chapter 33 of the Book of Deuteronomy are in red, and together they read "...Moses... blessed the children of Israel before his death. / Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee? A people saved by the Lord... And thine enemies shall dwindle away before thee...” Thus indicating, in almost secret code, that a desperate fate awaits the Jew, and that the Nazi enemy will eventually be defeated.RARE IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. This limited edition publication executed by one of the best German publishing houses at the time, was an unusual product of the Gesellschaft, who usually printed their books, pamphlets and journals of Jewish literature or criticism, in the German language.This is truly one of the finest printed Hebrew Bibles of all times and one of the most historically relevant in modern times.THIS VOLUME IS FEATURED AND ILLUSTRATED IN BOTH CATALOGUES: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress. Abraham J. Karp, pp. 31-33. 2,000 Years of Hebrew Books & Illuminated Manuscripts. Gold, Leonard Singer (ed.), pp. 1135-137.

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