THE POPPELAUER CATALOGUES OFHEBRAICA AND JUDAICA

DAVID GOLDSTEIN

T H E Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books has been fortunate enoughto acquire a unique and almost complete set of the Catalogues of Hebraica and Judaicaissued by M. Poppelauer of Berlin between 1887 and 1929. Twenty-seven catalogueswere issued, and the only (but important) one missing from the set is no. 20 whichwas devoted to incunabula. The uniqueness of the acquisition lies in the fact that manyof the catalogues are interleaved and the names of the buyers have been inserted inmanuscript. In addition, some volumes have leaves bound in, giving in manuscript thecomplete financial accounts ofthe transactions involved. The shelf-mark is 01927.aa.53.

The set gives a picture of an important Jewish bookseller and his internationalclientele over a period of more than fifty years, since the last transaction recorded isdated 19 December 1938.

Moritz Poppelauer, the founder of the firm, was born in Kalisz in Poland in 1824.He was nineteen years old when he went to Berlin and he lived later in Leipzig andFrankfurt. He established a publishing house in Berlin in i860 and many of the mostoutstanding works of German-Jewish scholarship of the nineteenth century bear hisimprint. He died in Karlsbad in 1880 and the firm was subsequently carried on by hisson-in-law J. Sanger. A work by Poppelauer himself was published posthumously (byhis own firm) in 1900. It was written in Hebrew in his youth in 1843, and its Germantitle-page reads Die judische Tradition. Reihenfolge der judischen Lehrer und Weisen vomUrbegmn der judischen Lehre bis 1650. Simon Bernfeld wrote two separate introductions,one in Hebrew and the other in German, giving information about Poppelauer's lifeand work.

A description of the catalogues follows:

1. Hebraica und Judaica, 1887

PP- 35» 29. 883 lots Hebraica; 573 lotsJudaica.

2. Hebraica und Judaica, 1895 j^^g lots. Ofthe ten 'incunables', four arepp. 86. dated before 1501. Interleaved. Among the'Hebraica und Judaica' p. i buyers were: Bernard Lazare, Paris; L.

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'Incunabeln''Predigten''Bilder und Portraits''Nachtrag'

p. 66p. 67p. 78p. 80

Grossman, Detroit; A. Marx, Konigsberg;the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

3. Hebraica, 1896

pp. 64. 2025 lots. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: H. Brody, Berlin; A. Marx;E. N. Adler, London; D. Simonsen,Copenhagen; D. Chwolson, St. Petersburg;Baron von Rosenthal, Amsterdam.

4. Predigten und Vortrdge, 1896

pp. 16. 405 lots, Judaica only. Interleaved.

5. Judaica und Hebraica, 1897

pp. 148.

'Hebraica und Judaica' p. i'Theologie, Orientalia' p. 127'Nachtrag' P- 131'Portraits und Bilder' p. 139'Register der hebraischen Titel' p. 142

3295 lots plus 155 portraits. Interleaved.Among the buyers were: G. von Rosenthal,Amsterdam; H. Maker, Cincinnati; H.Brody; A. Marx; B. Lazare; A. Epstein,Vienna; A. S. Freidus, New York; D. W.Amram, Philadelphia; M. Marx, Darm-stadt; Paul V. Kokowzoff, St. Petersburg.

6. Hebraica, 1899

pp. 64. 1591 lots, including thirty-ninemanuscripts, and some incunables. Inter-leaved. Among the buyers were A. Berliner,Berlin; D. Simonsen; E. N. Adler; theBodleian Library; Ephraim Deinard, NewYork; A. L. Germansky, New York; Jos.Chazanowicz, Bialystok.

7. Predigten und Vortrdge, 1899

pp. II. 243 lots, Judaica only. Interleaved.

8. Judaica und Hebraica, 1900

pp. 97.

'Hebraica und Judaica' p. i'Bibel' p. 5'Bibliographie' p. 7'Geschichte der Juden' p. 20

'Grammatik, Lexicographie' p. 30'Jtidisch-deutsch' p. 45'Kabbala' p. 4^'Palastina' P- 60'Predigten' P- 63'Samaritaner' p. li'Talmud' p. 78'Zeitschriften' p. 87'Gesange' p. 91'Nachtrag' p. 95

2054 lots. Interleaved. Among the buyerswere: E. N. Adler; L. Grossmann; A.Cowley, Oxford; M. Gaster, London; D. S.Margoliouth, Oxford; Jos. Chazanowicz.

9. Hebraica, 1901

pp. 95. 2623 lots, including forty-twomanuscripts. With an alphabetical list ofportraits at the end. Interleaved. Amongthe buyers were: E. N. Adler; E. Deinard;M. Gaster; the Bodleian Library; S.Ratnauer, Warsaw.

10. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1903

pp. 300. 6668 lots. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: M. Marx, Berlin; D. Simon-sen; E. Deinard; Blackwells, Oxford;Bloch, New York; Hebrew Union College,Cincinnati.

11. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1904

PP- 93-'Judaica und Hebraica' p. i'Karaer' p. 87'Handschriften' p. 91'Nachtrag' p. 92

1637 lots, including eighteen manuscripts.Interleaved. Among the buyers were:Blackwells; E. N. Adler; S. Ratnauer.

12. Predigten und Vortrdge, 1904

pp. 16. 500 lots, Judaica only. Interleaved.

13. Bibliotheca Hebraica, 1906

pp. 121.

'Hebraica' p. i

183

'Karaitica' p. i i i'Hebraica (Nachtrag)' p. 114

3291 lots. Interleaved. Among the buyerswere: E. N. Adler; M. Marx; L. Ginzberg,New York; G. Scholem, Berlin. With a listof transactions dated 13 September 1905-14 September 1918.

14. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1906

pp. 106.

'Judaica und Hebraica' p. i'Nachtrag' p. 99'Portraits' p. 106

1878 lots plus twenty-eight portraits. Inter-leaved. Among the buyers were: D. Simon-sen; L. Grossman; M. Marx; G. Scholem.With a list of transactions dated 23 Novem-ber 1906-28 April 1918.

15. Bibliotheca Hebraica, 1907

Enthdlt u.a. die Bibliothek des verstorb. Rev.Joseph Kohn-Zodek tn London.

pp. 183. 3830 lots. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: S. Schocken, Zwickau; G.Scholem; E. Ben Yehuda, Jerusalem; L.Ginzberg. With a list of transactions datedII February 1907-20 September 1916.Joseph Kohn-Zedek (1827-1903) was bornin Lvov, Poland. He was primarily a pub-licist, editing several Hebrew periodicals inEastern Europe. He came to London in1875, where he continued to write, both inHebrew and English.

16. Predigten und Vortrdge, 1907

pp. 16. Lots 573, Judaica only. Interleaved.With a list of transactions dated 25 June1907-5 June 1913.

17. Belletristik und Geschenkwerke, 1908

Geschenke fiir Prdmien, Bar-Mitzwah, Con-

firmation und Hochzeiten.

PP- [14]- [371] *ots, Judaica only.

18. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1908

pp. 82.

'Judaica und Hebraica' p. i'Judaica und Hebraica, Nachtrag' p. 69'Portraits' p. 75'Biblische Bilder' p. 78

1288 lots, including seven manuscripts,plus ioi portraits. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: L. Ginzberg; A. Marx; M.Marx; L. Grossman; A. Harkavy; D.Simonsen; S. Schocken; Jewish Theologi-cal Seminary, New York; Hebrew UnionCollege.

19. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1910

PP- 59-'Judaica und Hebraica' p. i'Judaica und Hebraica, Nachtrag' p. 55'Bilder und Portraits' p. 56

1000 lots. Interleaved. Among the buyerswere: B. Quaritch, London; A. Marx, NewYork; M. Marx, Berlin; L. Grossman; A.Berliner. With a list of transactions dated26 May 1910-28 May 1918.

[20. Hebr. Incunabeln, seltene Drucke und wert-volle Werke (c. 100 nos.)]Information from advertisement in Cata-logue no. 22.

21. Belletristik und Geschenkwerke, 1910

pp. [14]. [448] lots, Judaica only.

22. Bibliotheca Hebraica, 1912

pp. 68. 1450 lots, including seventeenmanuscripts. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: S. Rehfisch, London; F. M.Salkind, London; J. Chazanowicz; G.Scholem; E. Ben Yehuda; S. J. Agnon,Berlin; Martin Buber, Berlin; L. Gross-man; M. Marx. With a list of transactionsdated 15 September 1911-6 November

1934-

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23- Belletristik und Geschenkwerke, 1911

PP- [17]- [485] lots, Judaica only.

24. Belletristik und Geschenkwerke, 1912

pp. [18]. [519] lots, Judaica only.

25. Bibliotheca Hebraica, 1914

pp. 35. 680 lots. Interleaved. Among thebuyers were: M. Marx; S. Ratnauer. Witha list of transactions dated 2 June 1915-4 June 1918. Opposite the advertisementfor a limited edition (75 copies) of thefacsimile of Der Traktat Neziqin (HebrewMS. no. 19 in the Hamburg Stadtbiblio-thek) is a manuscript list of buyers with anote of the relevant numbered copy andthe price paid.

26. Predigten und Vortrdge, 1914

pp. 16. 450 lots. Judaica only. Interleaved.

27. Bibliotheca Judaica et Hebraica, 1929

pp. 105.

'Babel-Bibel' nos. 37-62'Bibel' „ 122-209'Chronologie' „ 247-79'Dramen, Dichtungen

und Uebersetzungen' ,, 313

'Gebetbucher'Geschichte und

Emancipation''Grammatik, Concor-

danzen, Lexico-graphie'

'Jiidisch-deutsch''Kabbala''Karaer''Medizin, Hygiene,

Naturwissenschaft inBibel und Talmud'

'Padagogik''Palastina''Recht nach Bibel und

Talmud''Talmud''Zeitschriften''Bilder und Portraits'

nos. 407-25

„ 458-619

„ 641-95„ 845-62„ 868-79. 887-99

„ 1062-1195M 1316-37n 1338-66

„ 1415-49,, I57O-1629

1717-59„ I76O-1816

1816 lots. Interleaved. Among the buyerswere: Columbia University Library, NewYork; S. Grayzel, Philadelphia; Universityof Illinois Library; Jewish TheologicalSeminary, New York; Martin Buber;Claude Montefiore, London. With a listof transactions dated 10 May 1929-19 December 1938.

In the descriptions above I have mentioned from among hundreds listed those buyerswho deserve notice, either because of the large number of items put down to them,or because of their place in the world of Jewish bibliography and scholarship. Somefulfil both criteria. Among the latter pride of place must go to the brothers Alexanderand Moses Marx, the greatest modern bibliographers in the field of Hebrew. Theywere both of German origin. Moses worked at the Library of Hebrew Union College,Cincinnati from 1926 to 1963. His name figures countless times in these lists. Anexample of his voracity for bibliographical items may be seen in Catalogue no. 25,where ofthe eighty-five Hebrew book catalogues offered for sale no fewer than fifty-fourwere bought by Marx. His older brother Alexander occupied a similar position at theJewish Theological Seminary, New York, where he was active from 1903.

Two great collectors who appear regularly here are Elkan Nathan Adler and DavidJacob Simonsen. Adler (1861-1946) was the son of the British Chief Rabbi, NathanMarcus Adler. He not only collected Hebraica and Judaica but wrote authoritativelyabout them. The greater part of his collection was acquired by the Jewish Theological

185

Seminary. David Simonsen (1853-1932) was for a time Chief Rabbi in Copenhagen.Just before his death he donated his magnificent Jewish collection to the Royal Librarythere.

It is interesting to note that a few items were sold to Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922),the father of modern Hebrew. The young Gershom Scholem, later to become theoutstanding authority on Jewish mysticism, is seen here buying what must have beensome ofthe first items in his library of Kabbalistic literature. Catalogue 13 shows thateleven works were sold to him in the period 1916-17, when Scholem was twenty yearsold.

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