Wow, tonight is quite a night… it’s Halloween, it’s game three of the World Series (go Phillies!), and I just discovered an incredible video!  Do you remember when I blogged about the Valmadonna Trust Library back in September?  No?  I’ll remind you: for the past few months, Sotheby’s has been working to sell the largest private collection of Jewish book and manuscripts to any buyer who has the financial oomph (read: at least $40 million) to purchase the thing in its entirety.  The Valmadonna is incredible, in terms of both its breadth – some 11,000 rare books and manuscripts – and in terms of the quality of the actual items in the collection, for example, the complete Bomberg Babylonian Talmud.  Back in February, blogger Gotham Girl explained why this particular set is so impressive:

[The Bomberg Talmud was] originally acquired by Henry VIII (hoping to find something in support of divorce), which arrived too late to help him out of his dilemma. These volumes of Talmud sat unused for 400 years in Westminster Abbey until acquired by the trust in exchange for a copy of the original charter for the Abbey. They are in perfect condition.

The entire collection was on exhibition back in February, but that exhibition has since closed.  When, back in September, I realized that I had found out about the collection a few months too late, I threw in the towel.  I figured that I would probably have to wait months, if not years, before the collection was again made open to the public by whoever ended up purchasing it.

… And this is where the exciting video comes in!  During my most recent trolling about the internet in search of exciting Jewish Book News, I stumbled across a video on the Sotheby’s website that provides an inside look at the Valmadonna Trust Library!  Get the scoop from Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, Judaica consultants, and even the collection’s custodian, Jack Lunzer!  Learn about how Jack Lunzer accumulated his collection, see some of the collection’s gems, and take a peek at how Sotheby’s put together the collection that you and I sadly missed.  Unfortunately, the video isn’t embeddable, so just click here to go the video on Sotheby’s website.

-Naomi