Mahzor le-Yom Kippur (Order of Prayer for the Day of Atonement), Provençal Rite, Manuscript on Paper, [Cuneo, Italy]: 1608

121 leaves (6 ¼ x 4 3/8 in.; 160 x 110 mm). collation: 1^{7, 2-136.10, 146, 158, 164=121 leaves; first quire unfoliated, modern foliation in pencil begins with "1" at second quire. Written in brown ink in Italian square Hebrew script with nikkud, 25 lines to the page. Architectural title border in pen-and-ink; mostly marginal spotting heavier at beginning and end. Seventeenth-century calf, gilt-ruled frame, spine gilt; wormed at head and foot of spine, joints mended, covers scuffed with some worming.}

Abram Lattes (gilt-stamped supralibros on upper cover)—Israel Lattes, Turin (ms. exlibris on front endpaper) – Samuel David Lattes (ms. inscription on front endpaper) – Ariel Toaff (bookplate). In addition, there are dozens of family genealogical records inscribed on the leaves following the liturgical text.

Renata Segre, The Jews in Piedmont, v.II, nn. 2238-2284

8vo (6 ¼ x 4 3/8 in.; 160 x 110 mm). collation: 16-1, 2-136.10, 146, 158, 164=119 leaves, architectural title border in pen-and-ink; mostly marginal spotting heavier at beginning and end. 17th-century calf, gilt-ruled frame, spine gilt; wormed at head and foot of spine, joints mended, covers scuffed with some worming. Prov: Abram Lattes (gilt-stamped supralibros on upper cover) - Israel Lattes, Turin (ms. exlibris on front endpaper) – David Lattes (ms. inscription on front endpaper – Ariel Toaff (bookplate) Note leaf 6 torn away leaving a rough stub.
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This Yom Kippur mahzor, according to rite of the Jews of Provence, was written in 1608 in the Piedmont region of Italy, probably in the town of Cuneo, and passed down through generations of members of the illustrious Lattes family. Originally of French origin, the family takes its name from a small town near Béziers, France.

In addition to its intrinsic significance as an exquisite and rare exemplar of a seventeenth-century Provençal mahzor, containing the complete liturgy for the Day of Atonement, the present manuscript contains dozens of entries recording the births, marriages and deaths of various members of the Lattes clan, beginning with the family records of the physician, Solomon ben Hezekiah Avigdor Lattes, head of the Jewish community in Cuneo.

A particularly intriguing entry is recorded on 2 September 1709. Following a standard formula used for recording births, the proud father, Abraham Lattes reports that before dawn on the Holy Sabbath, the 27^th day of Elul, 5469- " my wife (may she be blessed among the women in the tent) bore me a male child, whole and complete in all his limbs, and I called his name in Israel Samuel Leib. May the Holy One Blessed be He, in His mercy make him worthy of Torah, commandments, marriage and good deeds; Amen, so may it be His will. The mohel (ritual circumciser) was the honorable Rabbi Joseph Sinai, may his Rock preserve and protect him."

Until this point the entry is unremarkable. Here however are added two fascinating bits of information. The entry continues: "The Sandak and Sandeket, were the eminent Jacob, our teacher, and his wife." The honor of being chosen as sandak , the person who holds the child during the circumcision, is only afforded to men. The rarely used feminine term sandeket, seen here, indicates a separate honor that could in fact be bestowed upon a woman, that of handing the child to the sandak. There is one more surprise in store at the end of this single brief entry. Abraham records that he was not in attendance at his son's brit milah (circumcision ritual), saying " And I, due to my transgressions was confined in prison, as a result of the persecution of the men of Casale Montferrato."

Another exceptional entry written by Samuel David Lattes in 1733 records in a formal hand the miraculous events that occurred on the night of  25 Kislev 5467 (=1 December 1706) while Samuel was traveling by boat between Torino and Casale. When the boat capsized in a storm Samuel and another Jew were the only survivors, while more than 40 other passengers perished beneath the turbulent waters. He goes on to relate his present good fortune and the fact that he annually celebrates the date of his personal salvation as a holiday with feasting and the donating of candles for the synagogue.

In some entries, babies whose names are recorded in the early part of the family register, re-appear decades later, recording the births of their own offspring. This precious heirloom of the Lattes family is an invaluable source of genealogical information regarding the lives of Jews in the Piedmont during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.