A $40 million Jewish library? I’ll take two, please.
This entry has been cross-posted at the JPS Blog.
This has been a busy week for me, as I’m sure it has been for many of you. The week that straddles August and September brings with it days of hectic preparation: parents buy supplies for their children at back-to-school sales; college students move into dorm rooms and attend orientation events; and those of us in between build IKEA furniture, drive tank-like UHauls, and get very, very lost in Chinatown (don’t ask).
Now that I’m getting settled into my new place in New York, I’ve decided that I need to start exploring its Jewish cultural offerings. Unfortunately, this week has been somewhat busy (see the above reference to UHauls and Chinatown), so I’ve been unable to visit any museums or Judaica bookstores.
However, as I was ignoring my still-packed suitcase this afternoon, I stumbled upon an incredible article on ABC News. According to the February article, the largest private Judaica collection – the Valmadonna Trust Library – went up for auction at Sotheby’s a few months ago. The entire collection of some 11,000 rare Hebrew books and manuscripts, valued at over $40 million, was on display for a time in February in order to drum up interest among potential buyers. Among its many treasures, the Valmadonna Trust Library includes:
“a nearly pristine complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud printed in 1519-1523 by Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer of Hebrew books… the nine-volume, leather-bound Bomberg copy is recognized as one of the most significant texts in the history of Hebrew printing, on which all other Talmud editions are modeled.”
But before you whip out your wallets in a fit of excitement, it is unfortunately my duty to inform you that the collection will only be sold as a whole. So unless you’re willing to cough up $40 million (more actually, since the auction starts at that value), you’re going to have to wait for a museum or library to acquire it before you can crack open that Bomberg Talmud.
But don’t worry about having lost the opportunity to ever see these rare books. Martin Cohen over at the Ruminative Rabbi makes a great point that since the asking price for the collection is so high, the Valmadonna Trust Library
“will probably not be bought by someone planning to hide the collection away in a private home and so the chance to see it will probably present itself again…either in Washington at the Library of Congress or in some similar library or museum with that kind of acquisitions budget.”
When I hear any news about a final buyer, I’ll clue you all in. And maybe I’ll see you at the buyers’ exhibit!
-Naomi
