The twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures: carefully translated according to the Massoretic text, on the basis of the English version, after the best Jewish authorities

Leeser, Isaac

Published by [publisher not identified], published at 1227 Walnut Street, [stereotyped by L. Johnson & Co., printed by C. Sherman and Son], Philadelphia, 5619

About this Item

Second edition, 4to, pp. vi, [4], 3-1011, [1], plus 2 pro-forma lithograph leaves of "family records," and a tipped-in printed slip extending the family record (see below); original brown morocco, tooled in black and gilt in a Grolieresque style, two brass clasps, all edges gilt; brown coated endpapers, turn-ins tooled in gilt; bookplate and purple stamps of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, including stamp to title page. Skillfully and sympathetically rebacked with original spine laid down, lightly rubbed, but generally clean and fresh: Very good and sound. Handsome edition of the first translation of the Hebrew Bible by an American Jew, now known as the Leeser Bible. A prolific and ambitious religious leader, Isaac Leeser had a "monumental" impact on the American Jewish community (ANB). He elevated the status of Jewish religious leaders, advocated for Jewish day schools, and helped to established Maimonides College, the first rabbinical school in the United States. He also taught and published extensively in vernacular English and organized the first American Jewish Publication Society in 1845, making Jewish scriptures and religious education texts broadly accessible to Anglophone Jews. The Leeser Bible was first published in 1853-54, at a time when many Anglophone Jews had to read the Hebrew Bible in the King James Version of the Hebrew Bible; Leeser provided a translation free of the influence of American Christianity. His translation "remained the standard Jewish translation of the Bible in North America for over 60 years" (Fischel & Pinsker, Jewish-American History and Culture, p.349). This copy from the 1858-9 second edition, with an extended nineteenth- and twentieth-century provenance. The family record at the rear lists births, deaths, and marriages of the Alexander-Steiger-Freeman-Gombrich family from the 1850s through the 1880s, in both English and Hebrew. Also with the bookplate and stamps of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a short-lived organization founded by Salo Baron (and assisted by Hannah Arendt) that collected and redistributed heirless Jewish property from Germany in the wake of WWII. This edition is moderately scarce, with only 11 copies recorded in OCLC, and only one in the auction record. Hills 1540; Singerman 1271 (2nd ed).

Seller Inventory # 60348

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures: carefully translated according to the Massoretic text, on the basis of the English version, after the best Jewish authorities
• Publisher: [publisher not identified], published at 1227 Walnut Street, [stereotyped by L. Johnson & Co., printed by C. Sherman and Son], Philadelphia
• Publication Date: 5619
• Seller catalogs:
  • American Literature
  • Americana
  • Bibles