THE ROTHSCHILDSREUNITED

n the spring of 1950, Dr. Alexan-der Marx, Librarian of the Jew-ish Theological Seminary,

received an intriguing letter from aBerlin book dealer who was offeringfor sale to the Library an Italian 15thcentury, illuminated Hebrewmanuscript of extraordinary quality.Enclosed were photographs and adetailed listing of the contents. Fas-cinated by the offering, Dr. Marximmediately cabled thebook dealer to send thevolume on approval.Thus began a tan-gled tale of fourcities involvingextensive detec-tive work, corre-spondence andthe search forstolen art, culmi-nating in a law-suit involvingthe Seminaryand an interna-tional cast ofcharacters.

When the vol-ume arrived,Marx was over-whelmed by itsunsurpassed beauty. Here was aremarkable compendium of Jewishknowledge and prayer: treatises onastronomy, philosophy, mathemat-ics; moralistic fables akin to Aesop;Psalms, Job and Proverbs, all withcommentary; daily Sabbath and hol-iday prayers; entries on Purim and

Dr. Lynne Heller is Editor of OUT-LOOK. Her ongoing study of illuminat-ed manuscripts developed when she wasenrolled at ITS in a Women's LeagueInstitute course on Illuminated HebrewManuscripts, taught by Evelyn Cohen.

Hanukkah, including narration fromthe second Book of the Maccabees;Pirkay Avot; moral poems for chil-dren; a perpetual calendar; poemsfor weddings, birthdays and otheroccasions; and the text of the Hag-gadah. In all, more than 50 religiousand secular works were bound inthe more than 800 vellum pages.There were 222 exquisite miniatures,over 500 ornamental titles, andcountless illuminations. Unques-

tionably one of the finest examplesof an illuminated Hebrew manuscript,the Miscellany was a sumptuouswork of art encompassing in minutedetail virtually every custom of sec-ular and religious Jewish life.

But Dr. Marx was troubled. Arenowned scholar, he had recalledseeing reproductions of a few of thepages of the Haggadah in an obscurebibliographic text written in 1898and had read an account of the

entire manuscriptin a 1930 Frenchperiodical, Revuedes Etudes Juives.Dr. Marx inquiredof the Berlin bookdealer regardingthe provenance ofthe work. Thedealer respondedforthrightly: "Thems. has been givento me by a countrysquire who wishesto remain anony-mous. The ownerhas given a writ-ten statement thatthe ms. is in thepossession of his

family since a long time."Now Dr. Marx was suspicious, for

the article in the French periodicalhad attributed the work to the Roth-schild collection. It had been explic-itly catalogued as "Ms. Edmund deRothschild, Paris, No. 24"!

During the summer months,detailed correspondence was ex-changed between Dr. Marx andauthorities in London, Paris andNew York, as he persevered in hisattempt to document the rightfulownership of the Miscellany. Marxwrote to Hannah Arendt, ExecutiveSecretary of Jewish Cultural Recon-

struction, Inc., an internationalumbrella organization whose con-stituent members included: AllianceIsraelite Universelle; American Jew-ish Joint Distribution Committee;Board of Deputies of British Jews;Commission of European JewishCultural Reconstruction; Committeeon Restoration of Continental Muse-ums, Libraries and Archives; ConseilRepresentatif des Juifs de France;Council of Jews from Germany;Hebrew University; World JewishCongress; and the Jewish Agency forPalestine. One of the Jewish Culture-al Reconstruction's representatives inWiesbaden reported that, initially,Baron James de Rothschild (the sonof Baron Edmund) was "very reluc-tant to give a definite reply toqueries on the question of whetheror not any of his most valuable mss.might be missing." He quoted a reli-able source in Paris who suggested

that perhaps Roth-schild did not wantto divulge familyholdings. In actuali-ty, Rothschild's hesi-tancy may have

stemmed from the fact that he couldnot identify the Miscellany becausehe himself had never seen it.

Early in the summer, Dr. Marxturned for legal advice and counselto Alan Stroock, an eminent NewYork attorney. As Chairman of theBoard of the Seminary, Stroock wrotedirectly to Baron James de Roth-schild in London, formally informinghim of the disposition of themanuscript and of Dr. Marx's suspi-cions concerning its ownership.

Stroock sought to enlist Baron Roth-schild's aid in identifying themanuscript, stating unequivocallythat, while the Seminary was anxiousto purchase the Miscellany, under nocircumstances would it enter into atransaction involving stolen art.

Rothschild, in turn, contactedAndre Blum in Paris, who had beenthe librarian/curator of the collectionof his father, Baron Edmund de Roth-schild. Blum confirmed (letter datedJuly 21) that he had personally cata-logued the manuscript as number 24,but that, unfortunately, all of hisrecords and notes relating to the col-lection had been stolen during theOccupation. This correspondencewas forwarded to Dr. Marx at theSeminary.

The final evidence arrived in a let-ter from Eugene Weill, SecretaryGeneral of the Alliance Israelite Uni-verselle in Paris, to Hannah Arendt(which she forwarded to Marx onAugust 11). In it Weill identified themanuscript as #24, "probablement leplus precieux volume de toute la collec-tion ROTHSCHILD." The manuscript,indeed, the most precious volume in

the entire collection, had been stolenby the Nazis; it belonged to the Roth-schild family and appeared on theFrench list of the Commission deRecuperation Artistique as beingclaimed by James de Rothschild,Edmund's son.

Under the circumstances, the Semi-nary could not purchase a stolenwork of art, nor would they return itto the book dealer, who, in the mean-time, was impatiently chafing at thebit because Marx had not yetresponded to the original offer ofsale.

How could the Seminary insurethe legal return of the manuscript toits rightful owner?

The Seminary's only recourse,according to Stroock's consideredopinion, would be to have Roth-schild file a replevin suit (an actionto try the right to ownership of themanuscript) in the Supreme Courtof New York, with the Seminary asdefendant. On the advice of Stroock,Dr. Marx informed the Berlin bookdealer of these developments and ofthe Seminary's legal intentions. Thebook dealer, who claimed to be of

Jewish origin, responded immediate-ly, "I ask you to believe me that I ammost anxious to have the matterfully clarified, not only because ofmy personal sense of Justice, butbecause of the reputation of my firmthat has been in existence for 50years." Repeated attempts on hispart to contact the German "owner"were unsuccessful.

Baron de Rothschild retained alawyer in New York; the case wasbrought before Judge Samuel H.

Hofstadter of the New York StateSupreme Court. In default of anyevidence from the purported Ger-man owner, the judge ruled in favorof Rothschild on February 23, 1951,and ordered the return of the Miscel-lany. The book dealer was not impli-cated. To protect his integrity, theSeminary never divulged his identi-ty.

The Seminary was to remain cus-todian of the manuscript until itcould be delivered in person toRothschild in London. During theinterim, Marx tried through severalchannels to persuade Rothschild toallow the Miscellany to remain in theSeminary Library, either on perma-nent loan or through outright pur-chase. In a letter to Rothschild hewrote poignantly: "On the one hand,I am very happy to have been instru-mental in identifying the manuscriptas your property . . . On the otherhand, I, as wellas my colleagues. . . here havebecome so attachedto the volumethat, after giving

it eleven months of temporary asy-lum, we find it difficult to part withit."

Curiously, it was Rothschild's wife,the Baroness Dorothy de Rothschild,who responded in a handwrittennote thanking Dr. Marx for all hisefforts on behalf of the family butapologizing that her husband couldnot accede to his request. It was theBaron's wish that the Miscellany go toIsrael, and it is now in the IsraelNational Museum in Jerusalem.

Dr. Marx must have been dealt acrushing blow by the letter. He hadno choice but to comply with Roth-schild's wishes. In March 1952, onhis way to Israel, Dr. Marx stoppedin London to deliver the Miscellanyto Baron Rothschild personally.

Marx, the persistent and learneddetective, did not liveto savor the fruits ofhis labor. The finalchapter of the storywas written in 1966,when Baron Edmund,the grandson of theBaron Edmund deRothschild of the

French side of the family, personallypresented to the Seminary Librarythe Rothschild Mahzor, another mag-nificent 15th century illuminatedtreasure from the family collection.Bound in its original velvet cloth, it,too, is an exquisite example of ItalianHigh Renaissance manuscript art. Atthe formal ceremony, Baron Edmundde Rothschild expressed his sorrowconcerning the fire which had rav-aged the Seminary Library andrecalled with deep gratitude Dr.Marx's effort in restoring the Miscel-lany to his family.

A final postscript: In 1985, MichaelFalter of Facsimile Editions in Lon-don was granted permission by theIsrael National Museum to have theRothschild Miscellany disbound. In aprocess painstakingly developed byhim and artisans in Milan, he hasproduced on parchment a facsimileedition of the Miscellany, true to size,handbound on parchment withhand-applied silver and gold leaf.Four years in production, the facsim-ile has now been completed in asigned and numbered limited edi-tion. The Seminary Library has pur-

chased one, through the generousgift of Chairman of the Friends of theLibrary, Francine Klagsbrun, her hus-band, Dr. Samuel Klagsbrun, and herbrother, Robert Lifton.

This Rosh HaShanah, the Roth-schild manuscripts will finally beunited under one roof - in the RareBook Room of the Seminary Library- in their original Italian splendor.

OUTLOOK wishes to express grati-tude to Dr. Mayer Rabinowitz,Semi-nary Librarian, for permission to repro-duce photographs of the RothschildMahzor from the Seminary collectionand to publish material from thearchives of Dr. Alexander Marx; to Eve-lyn Cohen, Curator of Jewish Art; toRabbi Jerry Schwartzbard , Special Col-lections Librarian; and to Dr. Men-achem Schmelzer (who was SeminaryLibrarian when the Mahzor wasacquired) for their assistance and coop-eration in researching this article. TheRothschild Mahzor will be on publicview at the Jewish Museum in NewYork City, beginning September 17, aspart of the new exhibit: "Gardens andGhettos: The Art of Jewish Life inItaly."

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