December is nearly here and that means that it
is the height of Judaica Auction season. Following strong showings by
Kestenbaum (Nov 13th), Greenstein (Nov. 24th), Kedem
(Nov. 25th), the season reaches its culmination with an
exceptionally rich offering of over 170 lots of Important Judaica by Sotheby’s
New York. The auction will be held on December 4th, with public
viewing, for four days only, from Sunday Nov. 30 through Wednesday, Dec 3.

Sotheby’s annual auction features an outstanding
array of Hebrew books and manuscripts, important paintings, and ritual silver
and metalwork. The sale is headlined by over 120 rare books and manuscripts,
with over 80 lots drawn from a Distinguished Private Collection., carefully
curated over the past four decades, and chronicling more than five centuries of
Jewish culture. The auction offers a wide range of works with price points
accessible to both new collectors as well as to those with more established
collections. Including an important selection of Judaica Americana. The lots to
be auctioned will be on public view in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries (1334
York Ave.) from 30 November through 3 December, from 10:00am-5:00pm each day.

Among the highlights:

The Bologna Tehillim, (est. $70/90,000)
the first part of the Hebrew Bible ever printed (accompanied with the perush
of Radak.)

The Mahzor Le-Kol Ha-Shanah Ke-Minhag
Ashkenaz; Sefer Tehilim (Ashkenazi Prayer Book For The Entire Year; Book Of
Psalms—est. $550/750,000). This is the second work ever created by Aryeh Judah
Leib Sofer ben Elhanan Katz, the scribe and artist of this outstanding mahzor,
was influential in launching an artistic renaissance in the early decades of
the 18th century, when Court Jews in Germany and Central Europe
began to commission elaborately decorated Hebrew books as luxury items.

Seder Pirkei Shirah…Ve-Sefer Tehillim…Ve-Seder
Tefilat Yom Kippur Katan (est. $750,000/1 million), by the scribe and artist
Meshulam Zimmel ben Moses of Polna. Renowned for the accomplished delicacy of
his line, Zimmel is especially skilled in his depiction of animals. The
inspirational texts of this composition when joined with the unique talents of
this accomplished scribe have combined to make this book one of the finest
eighteenth-century decorated Hebrew manuscripts in existence.

A highlight of the Judaica Americana section is The
Occident and American Jewish Advocate by Isaac Leeser (est. $150/250,000).
The present lot is a complete run of Leeser’s periodical, The Occident, which
ran from 1843-1869 and ultimately defined American Jewry and American Judaism
for the 19th Century. It is arguably the single most important historical
record of mid-19th century Jewish life in the Western Hemisphere. An entire run
of The Occident has never before appeared at auction.

Perhaps the most unique piece of American
Judaica offered in the current sale is a 1791 letter from Hyam Nathan of New
York to Isaiah Isaacs of Richmond (est. $5/7,000) providing the only known
record of the first visit of a Jewish emissary from the Holy Land to the United
States. The visit of Rabbi Eleazar bar Joseph is unknown from any other source
and this letter, including a derasha of Rabbi ben Joseph, illuminates an
otherwise unknown episode in American Jewish history.

All lots may be viewed online in either
e-catalog format or as a PDF of the printed catalog:

E-cat: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2014/important-judaica-n09239.html 
PDF:  http://www.sothebys.com/pdf/2014/N09239/index.html

Queries may be directed to :
david.wachtel@sothebys.com