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Judaica and Hasidic Books and Manuscripts

Lot 84:

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Exceptional 1904 Circulating Rabbinic Correspondence – Rabbi Yakov (Yankel) Mintz of Kolno to Chaim Aharon Feinberg (Via East Prussia Cross-Border Routing)

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Start price: £80

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Description

An extraordinary and structurally complex example of early 20th-century Eastern European rabbinic postal history, showcasing a rare, completely intact four-sided circulating family letterhead.

  • Overview: A dense, multi-author handwritten letter arranged across four distinct panels on a single large folded folio sheet, explicitly dated April 25, 1904 from the town of Kolno.
  • The Primary Author & Script: The main body of the text is penned in a refined, traditional rabbinic cursive script and signed by Rabbi Yakov (Yankel) ben Yehuda Mintz (ר’ יעקב בן יהודה מינץ זצ"ל), a respected scholar belonging to the prominent Mintz rabbinic family of the Łomża district.
  • The Recipient: The correspondence is warmly addressed to his relative and fellow scholar, Chaim Aharon Feinberg (ר’ חיים אהרן פיינברג), dealing with intensive family developments, financial updates, and words of Torah.
  • The Historical Shared Handwriting: Due to the high cost of international imperial postage, different family members added their own notes in varying scripts on the blank quadrants of the folio. The margins preserve a secondary, rapid cursive script updating the family circle across borders. Per standard practice, the body text remains untranscribed.
  • Collector’s Highlight: This item is an archival masterpiece for collectors of postal history and genealogy. The envelope panel details a rare cross-border smuggling or forwarding layout used to bypass strict Russian imperial mail surveillance: it is routed from the Russian-Polish border town of Kolno (קולנא) via an intermediary agent (Herrn Olschka) stationed in Johannisburg, East Prussia (יואניסבורג / מזרח פרוסיה), providing an incredible research avenue into inter-empire Jewish networks.

Condition report:

Status: Good Antique Condition.


Details: The large single folded folio sheet is textually complete and structurally sound, showing its original vertical, horizontal, and cross-folding lines. The antique paper shows a dark cream-tan patina with prominent uniform uniform brown age-spotting (foxing) across the surface. The ink remains deeply set, dark, and 100% distinct, with all scripts and postal addresses perfectly legible.