Comments on: My Valentine’s Date With a Jewish Book http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/02/my-valentines-date-with-a-jewish-book/ It's a Jewish Blog! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:17:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Larry http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/02/my-valentines-date-with-a-jewish-book/#comment-1229833 Larry Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:34:55 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=7255#comment-1229833 Just to add some more info 1. Sothebys is at 72nd and York. 2. 2000 people came to see the books and wall hangings on Sunday 2/15, and over 600 were there on Monday morning. And the crowd was quite eclectic, young and old and very old, dark haired and fair haired, brown eyed and blue. 3 A story about the Bomberg Talmud from Westminster Abbey. Lunzer told the following British accented story. Many decades ago, he saw the Talmud at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum It was classified / labeled incorrectly by Westminster Abbey library and the museum. Lunzer had asked a guard at closing time to let him touch the copy, and realized it was not just an old book, but a copy of one of the book's of the Babylonian Talmud printed by Bomberg. It was extremely rare since so many Jewish books in Italy had been burned by various papal decrees Lunzer rang up the librarian of Westminster Abbey and strengthened their friendship by sending over three of his people to help clean the library's storage stacks of hundreds of years of dust. For 25 years, Lunzer tried to acquire these Bomberg editions of the Talmud for his trust. Mr. Nixon, the librarian at Westminster Abbey declined the attempts and finally said that the copies were integral to Westminster Abbey and could never be sold. Then one day, Lunzer was flying from Seirra Leone back to England, and asked the flight attendantr for a paper to read And there he saw a tiny itty bitty story. An American had purchased the rare and historic "deed" item which created Westminster Abbey. The British government could not stop the sale, but they could stop the export of the item, and thus they had forbade its export. The next workday, Lunzer phoned up Nixon at Westminster Abbey. Nixon answered and said, "We were expecting your call." Lunzer made an offer. He would acquire the item via Sotheby's from the New York buyer and generously donate it to Westminster Abbey. Perhaps Westminster could do a favour for Lunzer in return.... And that is how Lunzer obtained the centuries old copy of the Bomberg printed Talmud, reputed to have been brought to England for King Henry VIII. Just to add some more info

1. Sothebys is at 72nd and York.

2. 2000 people came to see the books and wall hangings on Sunday 2/15, and over 600 were there on Monday morning. And the crowd was quite eclectic, young and old and very old, dark haired and fair haired, brown eyed and blue.

3 A story about the Bomberg Talmud from Westminster Abbey. Lunzer told the following British accented story. Many decades ago, he saw the Talmud at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum It was classified / labeled incorrectly by Westminster Abbey library and the museum. Lunzer had asked a guard at closing time to let him touch the copy, and realized it was not just an old book, but a copy of one of the book’s of the Babylonian Talmud printed by Bomberg. It was extremely rare since so many Jewish books in Italy had been burned by various papal decrees

Lunzer rang up the librarian of Westminster Abbey and strengthened their friendship by sending over three of his people to help clean the library’s storage stacks of hundreds of years of dust.

For 25 years, Lunzer tried to acquire these Bomberg editions of the Talmud for his trust. Mr. Nixon, the librarian at Westminster Abbey declined the attempts and finally said that the copies were integral to Westminster Abbey and could never be sold.

Then one day, Lunzer was flying from Seirra Leone back to England, and asked the flight attendantr for a paper to read And there he saw a tiny itty bitty story. An American had purchased the rare and historic “deed” item which created Westminster Abbey. The British government could not stop the sale, but they could stop the export of the item, and thus they had forbade its export.

The next workday, Lunzer phoned up Nixon at Westminster Abbey. Nixon answered and said, “We were expecting your call.” Lunzer made an offer. He would acquire the item via Sotheby’s from the New York buyer and generously donate it to Westminster Abbey. Perhaps Westminster could do a favour for Lunzer in return….

And that is how Lunzer obtained the centuries old copy of the Bomberg printed Talmud, reputed to have been brought to England for King Henry VIII.

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