Quarto, [1], 118 pp. 215:130 mm., nice margins, usual light age and damp staining.  A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

Mahzor according to the customs of the Sephardim, printed, according to the title-page with large letters and with prayers from the letters of Ari (R. Isaac Luria, 1534–1572) and from the work Hemdat Yamim, with annotations from R. Hayyim Modai, and, at the end of the book bekashot from R. David Pardo (1718–1790) as well as from Otzar Nehmad. Also included are is Heterat Nedarim and Moda’ot, complete, according to the custom in Jerusaelm as well as prayers from the Hida (R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, 1724–1806). Also included are prayers to be recited at the cemetery and prayers from the Hida for the eseret yemei teshuvah (ten days of penitence between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). At the bottom of the title-page it states in English that it was printed at the Hebrew and English press, Fort. The mahzor begins with baskashot, includes selihot, Heterat Nedarim, prayers to be recited at the cemetary, and then services for Rosh Hashanah and Zom Gedaliah, all attractively set.

Hebrew printing began in Bombay with the arrival of Yemenite Jews in the middle of the 19 century. They took an interest in the religious welfare of the Bene Israel, for whom – as well as for themselves – they printed various liturgies from 1841 onward, some with translations into Marathi, the vernacular of the Bene Israel. Apart from a short-lived attempt to print with movable type, all this printing was by lithography. In 1882, the Press of the Bombay Educational Society was established (followed in 1884 by the Anglo-Jewish and Vernacular Press, in 1887 by the Hebrew and English Press, and in 1900 by the Lebanon Printing Press), which sponsored the publication of over 100 Judeo-Arabic books to meet their liturgical and literary needs, and also printed books for the Bene Israel.

EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960  #000310867