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Rare Texts

On November 15, Christie’s will auction off a collection of rare manuscripts from the private collection of the late Salman Schocken. The famous publisher of Franz Kafka, Gershom Scholem and S.Y. Agnon, Schocken was an avid collector of rare Jewish texts. Among the original manuscripts to be auctioned by Christie’s are poems by Hai Gaon, Ibn Ezra, Solomon ibn Gabirol and Judah ha-Levi from the Cairo Genizah, and a 17th-century travelogue penned by Yemenite Jew Zechariah Aldahiri. Four Siddurim from pre-expulsion Spain are expected to demand upward of $150,000.

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