FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS
Bibliophiles collect books out of passion for the printed word. Collectors search for books of special value based on their contents, authorship, place and date of printing, and unique characteristics of the book such as rich or unusual decoration, censorship notes, or even printing errors. Bibliophiles are especially drawn to unique elements, and many Jewish manuscripts and incunabula were very distinctive. By the nineteenth century, they were also very rare as most had been lost during pogroms or burned as works by infidels.
CREATION OF THE SARAVAL COLLECTION
Leon Vita Saraval (1771-1851) was a merchant descended from a rabbinic family who continued his ancestors’ intellectual tradition while introducing more modern elements. Saraval himself authored several texts and German-to-Italian translations. In the 1830s, Saraval was appointed headmaster of a public Jewish school in his native Trieste. He was known for his love of books. Success in business made it possible for Saraval to spend large sums of money on carefully selected rare manuscripts and books. He studied each item in his collection and recorded extensive bibliographic details.
A UNIQUE COLLECTION
Upon Leon Vita Saraval’s death in 1851, the collection contained 1,490 items that included manuscripts and prints. It contained 48 valuable incunabula, nearly one-half of the incunabula known to contemporary scholars. The collection, a cross-section of Jewish literary output over several centuries, included religious works, biblical and apocryphal texts, biblical and apocryphal commentaries of prominent scholars, works of Jewish geographers and philosophers, law codes, and poetry, all of which were of great value.
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The Collection in Wrocław