Birkat Shmuel - First Edition - Vilnius, 1939

Birkat Shmuel - First Edition - Vilnius, 1939
Birkat Shmuel, Vol. 1, on Tractates Yevamot, Kiddushin and Bava Kamma. By Rabbi Baruch Dov (Ber) Leibovitz, head of the Kamenetz Yeshiva. Vilnius, 1939. First edition.
The date which appears on the title page is 1939. But in the introduction of the book the author's sons tell of their father's death on the 5th of Kislev (November) 1939. They relate that in 1939, the printing of the book began in the lifetime of the author in Bilgoraj in the Lublin region and it was continued in Vilnius according to the proofreading sheets which remained after the Bilgoraj printing. The book was printed in Vilnius, where the yeshiva students fled to at the outset of World War II.
As soon as Birkat Shmuel was published, it became very popular in the yeshiva world and although only a limited edition was printed during the war, its content was widespread. Copies of the book spread among the yeshiva students in Lithuania and in Poland during the Holocaust years, some copies exiled with them to Siberia, Japan and Shanghai. Immediately after the Holocaust the book was reprinted by the author's son-in-law Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky and his sons who arrived in the United States. They also printed the other volumes from the manuscripts. This book was reprinted in many editions and is considered one of the basic books of scholarly Torah study in all Batei Midrash.
[2] leaves, 30 pages; 42 pages; 59, [2] pages. 33 cm. Simple paper, good condition.