Auction 1 - Rare Hebrew Books, Manuscripts & Rabbinic Letters
Lot 48:
Description
At only twenty years of age, Rabbi Hillel (Lelio) Della Torre already stood out as one of the brightest young intellectuals of Italian Jewry. A prodigy in Hebrew language and poetry, master of classical languages, educator at Turin’s Collegio Colonna e Finzi, and later professor at the famed Rabbinical College of Padua, Della Torre would become one of nineteenth-century Italy’s foremost rabbis, biblical scholars, philologists, poets, and public intellectuals. His Hebrew poetry, translations, sermons, and scholarly writings established him among the leading figures of the Wissenschaft generation in Italy, while remaining firmly rooted in traditional Jewish learning.
Among the most charming products of his youthful literary career is the present work, Kol Chatan VeKol Kallah, an original Hebrew wedding composition prepared for the marriage of Pinhas ben Israel Menahem Ottolenghi and Hannah bat Meir Segre, two members of distinguished Piedmontese Jewish families. Rather than composing a conventional occasional poem, Della Torre fashioned an elegant literary dialogue, alternating between the voices of groom and bride in finely crafted Hebrew verse. The title itself echoes the prophetic blessing, “The voice of the groom and the voice of the bride” (Jeremiah 33:11), making the manuscript both a wedding gift and a work of Hebrew belles-lettres.
The work was printed at Turin in 1825 (some bibliographies record 1826) in precisely this diminutive format. The present manuscript closely corresponds to that edition, raising the intriguing possibility that it represents Della Torre’s own presentation copy, or even the printer’s autograph exemplar, from which the published booklet was produced. The final page concludes with the author’s signature, identifying himself as “Hillel haKohen, teacher of the language and rhetoric of the Sons of Eber,” underscoring the literary ambitions of the young scholar at the outset of what would become a distinguished academic and rabbinic career.
Elegant manuscript on thick paper. 17 folios. Professionally repaired center of pages on old fold. Entirely handwritten in an exceptionally neat square Hebrew script closely matching the typography of the printed Turin edition. Contemporary gilt-titled leather binding (“קול חתן וקול כלה”). Written for the marriage of Pinhas Ottolenghi and Hannah Segre. Centers of the bifolia bear narrow reinforcement strips, likely early adhesive repairs or production reinforcements. A handsome and possibly unique manuscript witness to one of the earliest published works of Rabbi Hillel Della Torre.
Provenance: The collection of P. Klonimus Ariel, NJ
Opening price: $1000
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