Fascinating Inscription on the sudden death of Joseph Schlesinger's grandson and weather records - 1854

Free-ends of antiquarian books, often hold within the writings penned on them, a snapshot of the life and times of the former owners of the books. With paper centuries ago being at a premium, it is common to find that book owners would use the free-ends of the books they owned to write and document various different things, such as family birth and death dates, their family genealogy and much else.

Occasionally, you can find a volume which feels like a snapshot of the time, place and feeling in the room at the time when the inscription was penned. One such occasion, was with a set of Chumashim, printed in Vienna in 1794 which I recently acquired.

The Volumes were owned by a Joseph Dov Schlesinger, who used the free-ends of the volumes to inscribe a variety of prayers, halakhot and some of his life occurrences. On the final leaf of one of the volumes, Schlesinger details an event which appears to have had a powerful effect on his life, being the sudden and unusual death of his grandson, Avraham. From his Inscription:

"בשברון לבי.. בדמעות כי לקח ממני מחמד עיני הילד אברהם בן בתי אשר לקח אותו אלהים כמו רגע על ידי ברק..ביום ב יד לחודש תמוז תרי"ד כאשר ישבתי ללמוד עמו ועוד ד ילדים רכים והוא הצעיר בהם בן ד שנים וד חדשים טובת חן וטובת שכל והיה יודע כל האותיות ונקודותם ולהעתיק בעל פה יותר מן מאה וחמשים תיבות מלשון הקודש ללשון אשכנז תנצב"ה
וכל איש ואשה נער וזקן מבני עמינו וגם מבין הנכרים אשר הכירו את הילד בכו בכי רב על השריפה אשר שרף"

Translating as: "With a broken heart.. and in tears, the child Abraham, the son of my daughter was taken from us by God in an instant by a lightning strike.. On Monday, the 14th of Tamuz 5614 as I sat down to study with him and four additional children, him being the youngest of them, aged 4 years old and 4 months. An attractive and intelligent boy, he knew the Hebrew Alphabet and their vowels and was able to translate over 150 words from Hebrew to Yiddish...may his soul rest in peace.
All men and women, old and young from our people as well as from the gentiles who knew the child cried out in response to the fire which (God) struck us"

In addition, there are several other pages inserted in to the free-ends in his handwriting detailing unusual weather events that occurred in his lifetime.

Title page of one of the volumes

Signature and inscriptions of Joseph Dov Schlesinger who owned the books

Inscription at end of book

בשברון לבי.. בדמעות כי לקח ממני מחמד עיני הילד אברהם בן בתי אשר לקח אותו אלהים כמו רגע על ידי ברק..ביום ב יד לחודש תמוז תרי"ד כאשר ישבתי ללמוד עמו ועוד ד ילדים רכים והוא הצעיר בהם בן ד שנים וד חדשים טובת חן וטובת שכל והיה יודע כל האותיות ונקודותם ולהעתיק בעל פה יותר מן מאה וחמשים תיבות מלשון הקודש ללשון אשכנז תנצב"ה

וכל איש ואשה נער וזקן מבני עמינו וגם מבין הנכרים אשר הכירו את הילד בכו בכי רב על השריפה אשר שרף

Inscriptions detailing unusual weather occurrences that Joseph Schlesinger experienced 

Inscriptions detailing unusual weather occurrences that Joseph Schlesinger experienced 

Inscriptions detailing unusual weather occurrences that Joseph Schlesinger experienced