An important Woman's Prayer Book, Including Psalms and Tkhines, with a Rare and Exquisite Vellum Binding, Amsterdam: 1786

493 leaves (7  3/8  x 4  1/2  in.; 186 x 114 mm).  pagination: [1], 243, 105,144. Additional sectional title pages for Psalms and Tkhines. All edges gilt and gauffered. Contemporary vellum, elaborately gilt-tooled and hand painted in green, orange, and maroon inks; embellished with architectural elements, flora, fauna, and cherubim. Modern green morocco slipcase.

The elaborately tooled and brightly colored, laminated vellum binding of this volume typifies the rich decoration that was lavished on only a handful of eighteenth-century Hebrew books. Most decorated bindings of this type can be found on the haggadot and miniature prayerbooks commissioned by wealthy court Jews. The rich binding, along with the incorporation of gilding and gauffering on the book's outer edges, suggest that the woman who owned this beautiful prayer book was from a well-to-do family.

The title page is abundantly clear in defining the work's intended audience.  Printed in the center of the page in vaybertaytsh , the distinctive semicursive font used exclusively for printing Yiddish, the text reads:

You, wives, girls, and brides, pay attention to this beautiful siddur. With its large fonts, it can also easily be read [even] by the elderly. Completely in order, so you may find things easily without searching to and fro. Printed with many lovely Tkhines; as you will find in it great value due to its many attributes.

The siddur features a running Yiddish translation throughout the entire liturgical section, in the event that the woman who purchased the prayer book was unable to adequately comprehend the Hebrew text. The final section of the siddur comprises devotional prayers and private supplications, composed entirely in Yiddish, called tkhines. These poignant personal prayers were widely recited by Jewish women of the period. (Vinograd  Amsterdam, 2156).