Manuscript: Rome Version Machzor for Yom Kippur– Italy, 1608 – Lattes Family Inscriptions

Manuscript of the Machzor for Yom Kippur. [Italy], [1608].
A complete manuscript in fine, medium, Italian script, on heavy paper. Contains all the prayers and liturgies for Yom Kippur according to the custom amongst Italian congregations (comparable in its composition to the "Machzor Roma," however version variations have not been examined). The manuscript opens with an illustrated title page with a verse spelling out the year (1608). Using fine, miniature penmanship, the author added handwritten comments and instructions ("…I wrote it here… This is how they pray in the province…").
For several generations this manuscript belonged to the Lattes family, a famous Italian rabbinical family (the name is sometimes spelled Latis, D'Ltash or Di Lattes). On the blank leaves bound with the Machzor, numerous family members wrote dozens of notes about family births and deaths covering a period of 140 years, between 1609 and 1745. They also added some glosses to the Machzor.
The first such writer was Rabbi Shlomo Ben Hezkiya Avigdor the doctor, son-in-law of Rabbi Yehoshua Lattes of Cuneo. He started inscribing text in the year 1609 (a year after the Machzor was composed). Concerning one of the births he writes, "My wife gave birth to a boy… On Friday evening during "Arvit"…," about another he comments, "My sister-in-law could not come here…."
The documentation of births and deaths of other family members includes the following: Rabbi Moshe Eliya Ben Avigdor (whose inscriptions start in the year 1651), Rabbi Moshe Lattes (during the years 1660 to 1682), Rabbi Avraham Lattes (inscriptions during the period 1682 to 1697), and Rabbi Zemach David Ben Avraham Lattes (covering the years 1709 to 1714). Inscribing this information about the family's descendants provided abundant documentation about the Lattes family over the generations, together with additional related names and details about the period and the place. For example, Rabbi Avraham Lattes writes in 1714, "My wife gave birth to a boy and I named him Emmanuel Eliya… The Mohel was Yossef Sinai… And I was in prison…." To one of the pages two "Bakashot" were added regarding the two days of Rosh HaShanah "composed by Hezkiya Avigdor the doctor" (not listed in "Otzar HaShira VeHaPiyut" by Davidsohn).
Various ownership signatures appear at the beginning of the manuscript, including "This is my Machzor Shmuel David Lattes" and "Israel Lattes di Torino," and the "Piyut" which is sung before "Kol Nidrei."
A long and fascinating text by Rabbi Shmuel David Lattes dated 1733 was written on the final leaves: "I, Shmuel David Lattes, tell and make public the miracle… When in 1707, on the first evening of Hanukkah, I was on a boat from Torino to Cassali and we were three Jews on the boat and about 42 gentiles and after around 24 hours the boat capsized and 40 gentiles and one Jew named Shimshon of Torino and another Jew Avraham Yona drowned….And I brought a Torah to the synagogue and placed it in the ark…."
[7], [103], [11] leaves. Ca. 16 cm. Good quality paper. Good condition with some stains and wear. Bound in an ancient leather binding (embossed in Italian, "Abram Lattes"), slightly damaged.