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A hand written copy of Fanny Neuda's Hours of Prayer -- "probably the first prayer book for Jewish women in the nineteenth century written by a woman. ... her hope that ... 'the fruits of a woman’s heart' would 'find an echo in the hearts of women.'" 
The subtitle in the book version has "a Book of Prayer and Moral Uplift for Jewish Women and Girls, for use in personal and domestic prayer, as well as for all occasions in women’s lives." (link)
Fanny Neuda wrote in her preface to the printed version: “A man, however learned and great he may be, cannot capture the essential quality of a woman’s experience,” while a woman “need only gaze into her own heart to read the hearts of her sisters." (link)
German Title:
Neuda: Stunden der Andacht: Uberschrieben aus Liebe, der edlen frau Gertl Olivetti von Iher dankbaren Olga Wees(?).
Dedication leaf: Iher Hochgeboren der edlen grassherzigen frau Baronin Louise von Rotschild gemahlin des edlen Barons Herrn M. Carl von Rotschild in Frankfurt am Main in tiefster Ehrfurcht gewidmett von der Verfasserin unol dem Verleger.

English Translation of Title: Neuda's: Hours of Devotion: Dedicated with Love, to the noble Madam Gertl Olivetti from her grateful Oga Wees(?).
2nd leaf: -- a dedication by the author Neuda and publisher to the Baroness Louise von Rothschild, wife of Mayer Carl von Rothschild of Frankfurt am Main, who supported the project. -- (English translation of book)
Author: Fanny Neuda (born in Eibenschitz, Moravia on March 6, 1819, died April 16,1894). Her father and brother were rabbis, and she married a rabbi in the Reform movement. She was an author of children's books, and, after she became a widow in 1854, she wrote this book of prayers. Little is known about her life. -- Baroness Louise von Rothschild herself had 8 girls, and she spent time giving them a Jewish education.
Publishing Information:
A c1920-c1930 hand-written copy of the book apparently done by an Olga Wees(?) for a woman Gertl Olivetti. The book itself went through at least 28 editions in different languages including a 2007 translation by the poet Dinah Berland who wrote that a prayer from the book helped her reconcile with her son. It is reasonable to assume that this manuscript copy was written in Germany as a loving gift, found its way to a German library, and brought to Israel after World War II by a German refugee.
"This volume was considered 'the authoritative women's prayer book of its time.' It was republished in a newly edited edition by Martha Wertheimer in 1936 Frankfurt and remained in print in Switzerland until 1968.  This book survived concentration camps and great diaspora, passed hand to hand by Jewish women in hiding." (link)  
Further Information: Fanny's husband was in the Reform movement, and was one of the first rabbis to give sermons in German. Neuda's book is perhaps the first prayer book for women written entirely in German. Earlier Jewish prayer books in Germany for women were written in Yiddish and mostly by men. In Neuda's book, biblical quotes are from the Luther bible, and her original writing is in a type of intense and florid German whose use indicates a desire for assimilation to the surrounding culture. The book consists of 85 plus prayers each preceded by a biblical quote (the English translation of Mayer has only 67 prayers.)
"The book is divided into daily prayers, sabbath prayers, holiday prayers, women's prayers, memorial prayers, healing prayers, and special prayers. Every life experience is addressed from working, poverty, prosperity, traveling, illness, death, success of children, recovery, childbirth, and the simple acts of awakening and sleeping.  This is a beautiful book full of solace and understanding for Jewish women of all backgrounds and levels of faith." (link)
Here is a list of some of the prayers:
Prayer before retiring for bed; Morning prayer for children; Prayer for a young maiden; Prayer for orphans; Prayer for a bride on her nuptial day; A wife's prayer for matrimonial happiness; Prayer for a childless wife; A mother's prayer whose child is abroad; A wife's prayer whose husband is on a journey; A child's prayer for his parents; Prayer at the end of a voyage; Prayer for a sick husband; Prayer for sick parents; Prayer at the grave of a brother or sister; and so on.

Physical Description: Four individual manuscript notebooks (numbered I-IV),each 7 inch x 5.25 inches x .5 inches; Volume1 has two unnumbered leaves constiting of title and dedication, hand numbered pages 1-127, and a single unnumbered leaf consisting of a Table of Contents listing only 24 of the prayers in this volume; Volume 2: [blank leaf],1-133,[blank leaf],[1 leaf of Table of Contents listing only 15 of prayers in this volume]; Volume 3: [blank leaf],1-134,[1 leaf of Table of Contents listing 27 of the prayers in this volume]; Volume 4: [blank leaf],1-131,[2 leaves of Table of Contents listing 19 of the prayers in this volume].
The writing is in old ink. It in a careful script, but it is not artistic or professional.
These are four apparently identical leather bound, blind-stamped notebooks that are seem to be of the type you would now buy in a good stationary store. The leather is over cloth and seems to be sewed onto it. There are marble endpapers each with a library label. Volume 1 has an old library label on the back cover that has been impartially and imperfectly removed.
Condition: Binding -- Fair -- spines of three volumes are split revealing the cloth which is is also detaching; some loss of the leather; hinges splitting but generally holding well with one leaf of one volume that has come loose.
Internally -- Good -- Yellowing; no serious problems.
Scanner issues: Please note that the scans below are not true to color tone and tend to be blurred.

 
 

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