Become a Member
News

A prayer against plague goes up for sale

Rare rabbinical books and a number of items of British Jewish interest are on offer at the London Treasures auction next week

October 23, 2020 13:04
1831 London haggadah with engraving of synagogue at St James's Place, one of the lots in the London  Treasures auction on Monday
2 min read

An early-17h century collection of prayers to be recited as a protection against plague is among the rare Jewish books to go on sale at a London-based digital auction on Monday. 

The 331 lots in the London Treasures auction contain letters from famous European rabbis and several documents relating to the British Jewish community. 

Jonathan Fishburn, a specialist in antiquarian Judaica in London, said that while the capital had “always been an important part of the antiquarian book trade”, there had been few auctions of Hebrew books here in recent years. 

“The last regular auctions of Hebrew books took place in the 1990s at Bloomsbury Auctions and these stopped when Daniel Kestenbaum who organised them went to New York and opened his own auction house there,” he said.

“However in January 2020 London Treasures, a new dedicated Judaica auction house based in London held its first Judaica sale and on October 26 it will hold its third sale, greatly facilitated by an Israeli internet auction bidding platform, Bidspirit.