We Jews are known as the People of the Book. The “Book” we’re best known for is the one we were gifted at Har Sinai the Torah. While collectors of antiques enjoy many types of collections many frum collectors have unsurprisingly built seforim collections. From handwritten papyrus scrolls to “silk” paper to modern printing there’s quite a collection of written material to help keep our mesorah intact.

High Prices High Demand

Chances are that at least one room in your home is lined with shelves of seforim. But years ago people’s homes were smaller money was scarce and seforim weren’t as easily available. The average Jew owned a siddur a Tehillim and perhaps a set of Chumashim but most seforim remained either in the beis medrash or in the rav’s home.

In comparison to secular books however seforim were printed in abundance (though the numbers don’t come anywhere near to what is printed today). “Our survival is based on Torah ” Nechemia an antique seforim dealer in Canada explains. “Most of the general population was illiterate but reading was an essential part of being a frum Jew. Therefore we took advantage of the printing presses to spread Torah knowledge.”

Today the value of those seforim is based on many factors including rarity age condition printing house and previous ownership. And of course as the rule in any marketplace is dictated by supply and demand it’s also true in the world of antique seforim.

Rabbi Yehuda Klitnick owner of Seforim World a store that sells out-of-print seforim and rabbinical manuscripts elaborates: “A collection of letters or a manuscript just several decades old can sell for several thousand dollars while a sefer of several hundred years old will often be sold for just a few hundred dollars. The difference is in what people want and how available that is.”

He also explains that a sefer that belonged to a gadol has special chashivus; the tzaddik’s nefesh goes into what he writes and what he learns from, and that makes it valuable. One handwritten page of the Chasam Sofer’s chiddushim, for example, can be sold for over $20,000. Some people frame it and keep it as a segulah for shemirah in their homes.

It is said of the Chofetz Chaim that he only used seforim printed in the Zhitomir or Slavita printing presses, both owned by descendants of Rav Pinchas of Koritz, whose owners used to immerse their printing plates in the mikveh before using them to print seforim. Today, these seforim are sold at high prices due to their history.

Building a Collection

When someone decides to start an antique seforim collection, they need to put a lot of thought into where their interests lie.

“I know people who are very fond of Tehillim,” Meron Eren, owner of Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem says. “They’ll buy one sefer Tehillim and then another one, and another one, and then decide that they want a collection of sifrei Tehillim. Haggados, of which there are thousands, are another popular collectors’ item.”

While you may think that looking in only one direction is limiting, it’s not true. When too many options are open, people don’t know what to buy. But if they’re focusing on one specific area, their dealers can look for good pieces, and if they attend an auction they won’t feel overwhelmed by too many choices.

Nechemia says he speaks to people for a long time before they start their collection, to help them identify what type of collection they want.

Some people are particularly interested in seforim that belonged to, or were authored by, tzaddikim who lived in the same region as their ancestors, or seforim based on their current affiliation (such as chassidish, litvish, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, etc.).

Another category in collections is based on the printing press. As mentioned above, many people are attracted to seforim from the Slavita and Zhitomir presses (both owned by the same family), while others enjoy pieces from Italian printing houses, renowned for their uniquely beautiful print.

Some people buy antique seforim simply for investment. “We’ve seen prices triple in just a few years,” Eren says. “Though it’s hard to predict what will sell well, there are trends and patterns as precedents, and we advise people who buy for the sole sake of investment.”

Where We Find Them

Only seforim already in existence can be called antique; there is no way to manufacture old seforim. But with collectors continuously buying seforim, does the well ever dry up?

Not at all, say the experts. Many large libraries and universities catalog and archive seforim, after which they no longer want to hold on to the originals. Other times, children of deceased parents sell their parent’s library for lack of space or interest. Rabbi Klitnick says he’s even had non-Jews calling him after finding a collection of seforim in their attics (apparently left by previous homeowners).

“We always have surprises,” Rabbi Klitnick says. “I’ll spend a full day looking through someone’s old collection and then suddenly, I’ll find a gadol’s signature or handwritten note. I go through each sefer page by page to see what I can find.”

He’s come across writings by Rav Akiva Eiger and the Chofetz Chaim in seforim, proving these gedolim once owned it.

Eren remembers a sefer an old woman wanted to sell. It wasn’t in great condition and was missing many pages. Not one to be deceived by looks though, Eren leafed through it page by page by page until he found its stunning selling point — a signature of the Ohev Yisrael of Apta (niftar in 1825). This indicated that the sefer was in his possession at one time, and despite its condition, the sefer sold for $40,000.

On the downside, brokers generally buy entire collections, so there may be lots of unusable seforim dealers have to send for burial due to their sheimos status. This is a hidden, yet costly part of the business.