Large Collection of Letters Sent to Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal) - Scholars and Poets of the Jewish Enlightenment ...

Large Collection of Letters Sent to Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal) - Scholars and Poets of the Jewish Enlightenment Movement
Approx. 90 handwritten letters sent to Samuel David Luzzatto by scholars and poets, linguists and translators, and biblical commentators – members of the Jewish Enlightenment movement. [Europe, first half of 19th century - most letters are from 1830s-40s]. Hebrew and some German.
A large collection of letters concerning research, copying of manuscripts, debates, scholarly comments about the bible and other compositions, sent to Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal, 1800-1865) - a member of the Jewish Enlightenment movement, one of the first scholars of "Chochmat Israel", head of Rabbinic Seminary in Padua, poet, biblical commentator, linguist, philosopher, scholar and translator.
The collection includes:
• 14 letters from the researcher and historian Ya'akov Reifman [enclosed: 2 letters from Reifman addressed to Rabbi Mordechai Samuel Ghirondi, Rabbi of Padua, a single letter to Rabbi Prof. Hillel Della Torre and several booklets and handwritten leaves – study on prayers and Piyyutim]. • 14 letters from Josua Höschel Schorr of Brody (some letters are particularly long). • 3 letters from Adam Hacohen Lebensohn (pen-name of Avraham Dov-Ber Michailishker, first Hebrew poet in the Russian Enlightenment movement, a pioneer of new Hebrew literature and one of the leaders of the enlightenment movement in Lithuania), a letter from his student, Yosef Noah Vilkover and a letter from his son, Micha Yosef Hacohen (Michal). • 6 letters from Raphael Kirchheim. • 7 letters from Shaul Yitzchak Kampf. • 17 letters from Shlomo Zalman ben Gottlieb (Salomon Gottlieb) Stern ("Kochav Tov"). • 7 letters from Yitzchak Rietenberg. • 2 letters from Yissachar Ber Blumenfeld. • 5 letters from Itzek (Yitzchak) Blumenfeld. • 2 letters from Shimon Santo. • 9 additional letters, sent to Shadal from Shmuel Shoenblum, David Halevi, Ya'akov Halevi, Gabriel Rosenthal from Komarno, Moshe Reicherson, Mordechai Hacohen (Marcus Stum), Julius Fürst, Hirsch Mendel Pineles and Zelig Leib (Leopold) Schick.
In some of the letters the writers mention outstanding personalities of the period, such as Rabbi Prof. Hillel Della Torre, Avraham Firkovich and Yom Tov Lipman Zunz. Many letters include copyings of poems or literary passages, piyyutim, missives etc. On the upper part of some of the letters appears the number of the reply letter sent by Shadal to the writer, as it is numbered in "Igrot Shadal".
Enclosed: envelope from Adam Hacohen and Gabriel Rosenthal; title page and pages with table of contents of booklet no. 3 of "HeChalutz"; two letters from Shadal's grandson, I. A. Luzzatto, which accompanied the above letters (apparently, sent to the researcher Abraham Kahana): "please have… letters from the sages of this generation sent to my grandfather Shadal…".
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. Most letters are folded. Tears and minor blemishes. Ink erosion to several letters. Some stains. Worming to several letters.
Provenance:
1. The Ben-Zion Kahana Collection.
2. Sold at "Kedem", Auction 60 (March 2018), item 237.