Parchment Manuscript – Tikun Lailah – Bedtime Reading of Shema and Other Prayers – Frankfurt, Ca. First Half of ...

Parchment Manuscript – Tikun Lailah – Bedtime Reading of Shema and Other Prayers – Frankfurt, Ca. First Half of 19th Century

Parchment manuscript, Tikun Lailah – bedtime reading of Shema, with the prayer of the Ramban for the night of intercourse, and order of reversing a bad dream, scribed by Eliezer Zusman of Mezeritch. Frankfurt am Main, [ca. first half of 19th century].

Ashkenazic square script, vocalized. Instructions and laws written in Rashi script. Title page surrounded by rectangular frame, containing details on the scribe and the location. Fine square decoration on last leaf, containing words declaring the work completed.

On leaves 2-9a appear the reading of Shema, including the first four Psalms, Adon Olam and a confession. Beginning on p. 9a: Prayer of the Ramban for the night of intercourse, and order of reversing a bad dream.

Ownership inscription on front endpaper: "Belongs to the G-d-fearing philanthropist Mr. Hertz Marcus Oppenheimer" (apparently Hertz Marcus Oppenheimer, 1785-1839, jeweler and watch dealer in Frankfurt).

[11] leaves (numbered in pencil in a later hand). 17.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Wear and signs of heavy use to some leaves. New leather binding (bound together with a pink paper wrapper, original).

For another manuscript written by the same scribe, see Kedem catalogue, Auction 58, Lot 4. Several other manuscripts written by this scribe are extant, some in the Braginsky collection, documented in the catalogue: Emile Schrijver and Falk Wiesemann (eds.), Schöne Seiten: Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection (Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2011), pp. 76-77 (no. 15), 80 (no. 16).

Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, November 2019, Lot 122.