Collection of "Shanah Tovah" Postcards – Jewish Soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Rabbis of Pressburg, WWI ...

Collection of "Shanah Tovah" Postcards – Jewish Soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Rabbis of Pressburg, WWI, Emperor Franz Joseph

Collection of "shanah tovah" postcards showing Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian and German armies, along with portraits of Emperor Franz Joseph, pictures of sites from across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and more. Various publishers, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and elsewhere, [ca. first decades of the 20th century].
The lot comprises:
• Photographic "shanah tovah" postcard. According to the German caption, the photo shows the rabbis of Pressburg (Bratislava; Hungarian: Poszony) and the head of the city's Jewish community waiting to greet Emperor Franz Joseph, June 1, 1909.
• 11 illustrated and photographic "shanah tovah" postcards, depicting Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian and German armies: Soldiers praying in a synagogue, in a bunker, and on the battlefield; blowing of the shofar; bidding farewell to the family; being blessed by the rabbi; and more. Various captions and new year's greetings in Hebrew, German, and Hungarian.
• Two "shanah tovah" postcards dating from WWI, with greetings in Hebrew and German. One postcard bears relief portrait images of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph and German Emperor Wilhelm II and flags of the Austro-Hungarian and German empires. The second postcard bears the flags of the two em[pires alongside a Star of David.
• Folding card bearing portraits of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph and German Emperor Wilhelm II. Caption in Hungarian and German, underneath portraits: "May God bless our weaponry"; at bottom, new year's greetings in Hebrew and Hungarian.
• 18 postcards with a variety of themes: Photographic postcards showing soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian army; two color postcards featuring ships at sea; two photographic postcards showing Catholic churches; and more. On the backs of these postcards are new year's greetings in Hebrew and Hungarian, and a dedication to the soldiers in Hungarian, with the caption "Pro Patria 1914".
• Postcard with a picture of Jewish soldiers praying at an army base (Hebrew caption: "Yom Kippur worship at a camp near Metz"); printed in New York. Also enclosed: an additional postcard with the same image but without the "shanah tovah" greeting (printed in Warsaw).

Total of 32 "shanah tovah" postcards and one greeting card. Postcards: averaging 14X9 cm. Greeting card (when open): approx. 13.5X22 cm. Condition varies. Some of the postcards were used.

Also enclosed: Two postcards without "shanah tovah" greetings – one illustrated postcard showing Jewish soldiers in the German army during the "Kol Nidre" prayer, prior to the battle for Metz during the Franco-Prussian War, 1870 (on the back, postmark dated 1898); and one postcard bearing a portrait of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph.
Provenance: The Dr. Haim Grossman collection.

Dr. Chaim Grossman's Israeliana collection is exceptional in size, quality and variety. Grossman, an educator, historian and folklorist, was a methodical, knowledgeable and meticulous collector, and his deep understanding of Palestinian-Yishuv and Israeli material culture set the ground for a one-of-a-kind collection of mundane and less than mundane objects – from the ephemeral, the negligible, the widely available to the rare and singular.
The "shana tovah" collection left by Grossman – a considerable part of which is offered in the present auction – comprises thousands of postcards, cards, letters and other paper items made and sent year after year in, by and for Jewish communities: in Eastern and Western Europe, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, North Africa, North and South America, as part of the tradition of sending hand-written, hand-drawn or printed new year’s greetings, which originated in German Jewry but with the rise of postcards spread to most communities. The earliest items in the collection date to the 1860s; the latest were made in the late 20th century. It includes both beautifully designed, rare, early and singular postcards and cards, and mass-made, highly popular items sold in large quantities, in varying production quality and in dozens of repeating versions, each according to the technical abilities achieved by the local publication industry.
The collector's devotion to his collection is evident in the sheer number of items, in the wealth of techniques, visuals and themes, and in the thorough, intersectional categorization by period, origin, motif, technique and material. Glitter and relief embossing, scraps, lace and golden ink, lithography and celluloid transparencies, plastic, textile and metal decorations; Yiddish, Hebrew, English, Russian, French, Polish, German greetings; children, angels, families, pets, immigrants, travelers, professionals; portraits and tinted reproductions; Judaism, Zionism, the state, the army; the ritual and the mundane; any new year's greeting, in any form whatsoever, had a place in Grossman's collection and was honored as a historical testimony, as a timeless, invaluable treasure.