TREASURES FROM THE DAVID BERG RARE BOOK ROOM
AT THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY
The David Berg Rare Book Room at the Center for Jewish History is a shared exhibition space for the Center and Partners’ treasures. In exhibitions and collections of rare books, first editions, illuminated manuscripts and letters, the room brings together written materials from around the world, in 23 different languages and dating back five and a half centuries.
The David Berg Rare Book Room was made possible by a $2.5 million grant from The David Berg Foundation. David Berg, the youngest son in a struggling immigrant family who came to Ellis Island from Russia in 1904, was a real estate lawyer who established the foundation in 1994 to support Jewish, education and law-related charities. The David Berg Foundation is a supporter of major cultural institutions around the world.
The Center for Jewish History is home to the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
AMERICAN JEWISH
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928.
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
SIDDUR (SEPHARDIC)
BM665 .L36 1837
American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection
Includes a bookmark, most likely hand-stitched, and embroidered with the name Isaac Phillips.
A collection of prayers, in English and Hebrew, according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. This rare book was edited, carefully compared, and corrected by Isaac Leeser, reader of the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, by using earlier translations.
ORATION DELIVERED OVER THE REMAINS OF AARON DE CORDOVA... 9TH JULY, 1866-18TH TAMUZ,5626
A. H. Delevante.
Kingston, Jamaica: M. De Cordova, 1866
CT368.D2 D2
American Jewish Historical Society
Aaron De Cordova (1804-1866) was a wealthy Sephardic merchant in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1834, he and his brother Jacob founded a newspaper, The Jamaica Gleaner, which is still in publication. This funeral oration for de Cordova was written and delivered by Rev. A. H. Delevante, who was the minister of the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in Kingston.
THE JEW, AMONG ALL NATIONS
D. P. Kidder
New York: Lane & Scott, 1851
DS112 .K32
American Jewish
Historical Society
D.P. Kidder was an American Methodist Episcopal theologian and writer. In this tract, he offers an overview of the Jewish people and their culture, customs, and faith, as well as the conversion of Jews to Christianity.
THE BIBLE ON THE SABBATH QUESTION
Charles Hill
London: S.W. Partridge, 1887
BV113 .H3
American Jewish Historical Society
Charles Hill was Secretary of the Working Men's Lord's Day Rest Association, which was founded in England in 1857 to secure Sunday as a day of rest for all workers. In this book, he lays out the biblical arguments for keeping the Sabbath, assuring readers that it was not a “Jewish Institution.”
SIDDUR (SEPHARDIC)
BM665 .L36 1837
American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection
Includes a bookmark, most likely hand-stitched, and embroidered with the name Isaac Phillips.
A collection of prayers, in English and Hebrew, according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. This rare book was edited, carefully compared, and corrected by Isaac Leeser, reader of the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, by using earlier translations.
LEO BAECK INSTITUTE
INSTITUTE
E.M. LILIEN, SEIN WERK MIT EINER EINLEITUNG VON STEFAN ZWEIG
Ephraim Moses Lilien; Berlin: Schuster & Löffler, 1903
r (q) NE 654 L5 E4
Leo Baeck Institute
E.M. Lilien (1874-1925) was an internationally renowned Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and photographer, often considered the most prominent Jewish artist to be associated with Art Nouveau or Jugendstil, a new international style coming out of the European Secession movement at the turn of the twentieth century. This book about his work, produced in an edition of 1000 copies, contains an introduction by Stefan Zweig, the Austrian Jewish novelist, playwright, and biographer.
PHAEDON; ODER, ÜBER DIE UNSTERBLICHKEIT DER SEELE, IN DREY GESPRÄCHEN
Moses Mendelssohn
Berlin, 1767
r B 2691 P3 1767a
Leo Baeck Institute
Phaedon is one of Moses Mendelssohn's major religio-philosophical works which brought him fame throughout Europe as the "German Socrates." It was a novel effort at translation and commentary on Plato's Phaedo. The work begins as a strict translation of the Platonic dialogue, but rapidly becomes its own independent work, as Mendelssohn seeks to demonstrate the rationality of the belief in the existence of God.
SPIELZEUG
Oscar Seyffert; illustrated by W. Trier
Berlin: E. Wasmuth, 1920s
r (q) 43
Leo Baeck Institute
Oskar Seyffert, a German art professor and folklorist, created this book about children’s toys found in the Landesmuseum für Sächsische Volkskunst in Dresden, containing images by Walter Trier, a Jewish Czech-German illustrator and cartoonist.
JÜDISCHES LEBEN IN WORT UND BILD
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch; Illustrated by Alphons Levy Gerardin
Mannheim: j. Bensheimer, 1891
r (q) pt 2461 s3 j8 1891
Leo Baeck Institute
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch was a nobleman born in 1836 In Lemberg (now Lviv) in the province of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A writer of history and folklore, he is known as a philosemite who spoke out against antisemitism. This work is a collection of short stories illustrating various aspects of Jewish life and culture throughout Europe.
THE TRIAL
Franz Kafka; illustrated by George Salter
New York: The Modern Library, 1956
st 4610 Salter v. 99
Leo Baeck Institute
George Salter is recognized as one of the most creative forces in modern book design. His innovative work, done for publishers during the Weimar Republic and for all the major publishing houses in the U.S. after his emigration, produced signature pieces for some of the important literary works of the 20th century, including this edition of Kafka’s The Trial, a novel about one man’s surreal struggle against a mindless and incomprehensible bureaucracy.
GHETTO; SIEBEN ERZÄHLUNGEN
Scholem Alejchem, Scholem Asch and Jizchok Lejb Perez; translated by Alexander Eliasberg; illustrated by Max Unold
München: G. Müller, 1921
r (q) PJ 5128 G4
Leo Baeck Institute
This German translation of a collection of Yiddish stories by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, and Leib Peretz, number 194 of an edition of 330 copies, features 12 lithographic plates by Expressionist artist Max Unold.
LEO BAECK INSTITUTE
FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIDNEY LAPIDUS
DISCOURSE ON THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS DELIVERED AT THE TABERNACLE, OCT. 28 AND DEC. 2, 1844
M. M. (Mordecai Manuel) Noah; New-York: Harper & Brothers,1845
BS649.J5 N63 1845b; American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection, Gift of Sidney Lapidus
Mordechai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) was an influential Jewish lay leader in the United States in the early 19th century. In this work, a precursor of modern Zionism, he proclaimed his faith that the Jews would return and rebuild their ancient homeland and called on America to take the lead in this endeavor.
AN ACT TO PERMIT PERSONS PROFESSING THE JEWISH RELIGION TO BE NATURALIZED BY PARLIAMENT
Great Britain. Parliament
London: Thomas Baskett, 1753
KD4058.J48 G74 1753
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
One of only 1100 copies of this bill printed for the use of governmental officials, this was the so-called Jew Bill of 1753, Parliament's first attempt to grant full citizenship to Jews residing in England. The Act was repealed the following year after an antisemitic backlash.
AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1698 BEING THE SECOND AFTER BISSEXTILE OR LEAP-YEAR
Isaac Abendana
Oxford: Printed at the theater, [1698]
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
Born in Spain, Isaac Abendana (c.1640–1699) became hakam of the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in London after the death of his brother Jacob. Creator of Jewish calendars as well as a Latin translation of the Mishnah for Christian readers, he became known at Oxford University as a teacher of Hebrew, purveyor of Hebrew books, and an authority on Jewish matters.
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
A[LEF] B[ET] G[IMMEL] LE-YALDEL YISRAEL (ALEF BET GIMEL FOR CHILDREN OF ISRAEL)
Compiled, edited and illustrated by Rachel Caspi and Zvi Malewenczik Livni
Daat Publishers: Tel-Aviv, ca. 1956
Hebrew
The Jean Sorkin Moldovan Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of the Jesselson Family
This delightful alef-bet book contains a cheerful two-page spread of a train and railroad tracks ornamented with all 22 Hebrew characters.
THE TRIAL OF THE JEWS OF TRENT
Trent, 1478-1479
German, Hebrew and Italian
Ink, gouache and gold on paper
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Erica and Ludwig Jesselson
Written for Eberhardt I, Duke of Württemberg, and bearing his arms, this is the only known German copy of the records of the trials of the Jews of Trent, accused of the ritual murder of a young Christian boy named Simon in 1475.
The influx of immigrants after the Holocaust doubled the population of Israel. The government instituted rationing based on the British parameters established during World War II to solve the problem of providing food to everyone. An austerity program was instituted at the same time since Israel suffered from a deficit which was covered by loans and foreign financing. Dov Yosef (1899-1980), Minister of Rationing and Supply in the new State of Israel, wrote the introduction to this book. In addition to recipes, this book contains advertisements for products such as the one for detergent, illustrated here, touted by a Betty Boop look alike.
WHAT SHALL I COOK FROM AUSTERITY RATIONS
Author and publisher: Lilian Cornfeld
Tel Aviv, 1949
Hebrew
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
ESPEJO FIEL DE VIDA QUE LAS PSALMOS DE DAVID EN VERSO
(FAITHFUL MIRROR OF LIVES: THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN VERSE)
Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna
London, 1720
Spanish
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Herbert M. Honig in memory of Alexander and Esther Honig
The author began to compose this poetical account of his experiences, and the consolation he found in the Psalms, when imprisoned by the Inquisition as a Marrano in Portugal. He completed the manuscript when he escaped to Jamaica. It was published in England under the patronage of Mordecai Nunes Almeyda.
AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION
PRAYERS FOR SHABBAT, ROSH-HASHANAH AND KIPPUR
Prayers for Shabbat, Rosh-Hashanah and Kippur
Translated by Isaac Pinto
J. Holt (New York, 1766)
English
American Sephardi Federation, Gift of an anonymous donor
“Hebrew,” writes Isaac Pinto (1720-1791), “being imperfectly understood by many, by some, not at all,” necessitated an English rendering of the siddur. His model, Ishac Nieto’s “elegant Spanish translation,” was (and was to remain) predominant in Sephardi-majority England. Pinto, amongst the first US Government translators, was described as “a learned Jew at New York” by Ezra Stiles (Yale’s President), and may also have lived in Stratford, Connecticut.
QANUN AL NISA
קנון אל ניסא
Yosef Hayyim Ben Elijah (Ben Ish Hai)
Livorno, Italy, Calcutta, India, 1905
American Sephardi Federation
The Ben Ish Hai, as Rabbi Yosef Hayyim is popularly known, was a prolific and wide-ranging Baghdadi author of some sixty works, including halakhic or Jewish legal rulings (responsa), Torah commentaries, piyyut (liturgical songs), and Kabbalah exegeses. This work was written in Judeo-Arabic, the lingua franca of its intended readers: Jewish women. Chapter 58, which was also published separately, contains riddles meant to “reveal and sharpen” women’s minds.
“Every part of the [Moroccan] empire,” writes William Lemprière (1751-1834) in this travel chronicle, “more or less abounds with Jews, who… are not confined to towns, but are spread over the whole face of the country….” Lemprière, a British Army doctor, made this and other observations while traveling, beginning in 1789, to treat the son (and later harem) of Sultan Sidi Muhammad.
VIAGENS DE GIBRALTAR
Viagens de Gibraltar
William Lemprière
Na Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira (Lisbon, 1794)
Portuguese
American Sephardi Federation, Gift of The Cahnman Foundation
TSEMAH DAVID: DITTIONARIO NOVO
David ben Isaac de Pomis
Ioannem de Gara (Venice, 1587)
Hebrew, Aramaic, Italian, Latin
American Sephardi Federation, Louis N. Levy Ladino and Rare Book Library Collection
Dedicated to Pope Sixtus V, this first edition of De Pomis’ (1525-93?) tri-lingual dictionary sought to explain Hebrew or Aramaic terms, many of them biological or medical, in Latin and Italian. A physician, philosopher, and rabbi, De Pomis was permitted to practice medicine amongst Tuscany Christians after delivering a discourse in Latin to Pope Pius IV.
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928.
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928.
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SIDDUR (SEPHARDIC)
BM665 .L36 1837
American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection
Includes a bookmark, most likely hand-stitched, and embroidered with the name Isaac Phillips.
A collection of prayers, in English and Hebrew, according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. This rare book was edited, carefully compared, and corrected by Isaac Leeser, reader of the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, by using earlier translations.
ORATION DELIVERED OVER THE REMAINS OF AARON DE CORDOVA... 9TH JULY, 1866-18TH TAMUZ,5626
D. P. Kidder
New York: Lane & Scott, 1851
DS112 .K32
American Jewish Historical Society
THE JEW, AMONG ALL NATIONS
D. P. Kidder
New York: Lane & Scott, 1851
DS112 .K32
American Jewish Historical Society
THE BIBLE ON THE SABBATH QUESTION
Charles Hill
London: S.W. Partridge, 1887
BV113 .H3
American Jewish Historical Society
SIDDUR (SEPHARDIC)
BM665 .L36 1837
American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection
Includes a bookmark, most likely hand-stitched, and embroidered with the name Isaac Phillips.
A collection of prayers, in English and Hebrew, according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. This rare book was edited, carefully compared, and corrected by Isaac Leeser, reader of the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, by using earlier translations.
LEO BAECK
INSTITUTE
LEO BAECK
INSTITUTE
SPIELZEUG
Oscar Seyffert; illustrated by W. Trier
Berlin: E. Wasmuth, 1920s
r (q) 43
Leo Baeck Institute
JÜDISCHES LEBEN IN WORT UND BILD
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch; Illustrated by Alphons Levy Gerardin
Mannheim: j. Bensheimer, 1891
r (q) pt 2461 s3 j8 1891
Leo Baeck Institute
PHAEDON; ODER, ÜBER DIE UNSTERBLICHKEIT DER SEELE, IN DREY GESPRÄCHEN
Moses Mendelssohn
Berlin, 1767
r B 2691 P3 1767a
Leo Baeck Institut
GHETTO; SIEBEN ERZÄHLUNGEN
Scholem Alejchem, Scholem Asch and Jizchok Lejb Perez; translated by Alexander Eliasberg; illustrated by Max Unold
München: G. Müller, 1921
r (q) PJ 5128 G4
Leo Baeck Institute
GHETTO; SIEBEN ERZÄHLUNGEN
E.M. LILIEN, SEIN WERK MIT EINER EINLEITUNG VON STEFAN ZWEIG
Ephraim Moses Lilien; Berlin: Schuster & Löffler, 1903
r (q) NE 654 L5 E4
Leo Baeck Institute
THE TRIAL
Franz Kafka; illustrated by George Salter
New York: The Modern Library, 1956
st 4610 Salter v. 99
Leo Baeck Institute
DISCOURSE ON THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS DELIVERED AT THE TABERNACLE, OCT. 28 AND DEC. 2, 1844
M. M. (Mordecai Manuel) Noah; New-York: Harper & Brothers, 1845
BS649.J5 N63 1845b; American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection, Gift of Sidney Lapidus
ANNO REGNI GEORGII II; REGIS MAGNAE BRITANNIAE, FRANCIAE, & HIBERNIAE, VICESIMO SEXTO
Great Britain. Parliament
London: Thomas Baskett, 1753
DS135.E5 G791 1753
American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman
Rare Book Collection, Gift of Sidney Lapidus
An act to permit persons professing the Jewish religion, to be naturalized by Parliament; and for other purposes therein mentioned.
AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1698 BEING THE SECOND AFTER BISSEXTILE OR LEAP-YEAR
Isaac Abendana
Oxford: Printed at the theater, [1698]
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIDNEY LAPIDUS
AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION
PRAYERS FOR SHABBET, ROSH-HASHANAH AND KIPPUR
Prayers for Shabbat, Rosh-Hashanah and Kippur
Translated by Isaac Pinto
J. Holt (New York, 1766)
English
American Sephardi Federation, Gift of an anonymous donor
“Hebrew,” writes Isaac Pinto (1720-1791), “being imperfectly understood by many, by some, not at all,” necessitated an English rendering of the siddur. His model, Ishac Nieto’s “elegant Spanish translation,” was (and was to remain) predominant in Sephardi-majority England. Pinto, amongst the first US Government translators, was described as “a learned Jew at New York” by Ezra Stiles (Yale’s President), and may also have lived in Stratford, Connecticut.
KANUN AL NISA
(אסנ)ןונאק לא
Isaac Abendana
Oxford: Printed at the theater, [1698]
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
VIAGENS DE GIBRALTAR
Viagens de Gibraltar
William Lemprière
Na Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira (Lisbon, 1794)
Portuguese
American Sephardi Federation, Gift of The Cahnman Foundation
“Every part of the [Moroccan] empire,” writes William Lemprière (1751-1834) in this travel chronicle, “more or less abounds with Jews, who… are not confined to towns, but are spread over the whole face of the country….” Lemprière, a British Army doctor, made this and other observations while traveling, beginning in 1789, to treat the son (and later harem) of Sultan Sidi Muhammad.
TSEMAH DAVID: DITTIONARIO NOVO
David ben Isaac de Pomis
Ioannem de Gara (Venice, 1587)
Hebrew, Aramaic, Italian, Latin
American Sephardi Federation, Louis N. Levy Ladino and Rare Book Library Collection
Dedicated to Pope Sixtus V, this first edition of De Pomis’ (1525-93?) tri-lingual dictionary sought to explain Hebrew or Aramaic terms, many of them biological or medical, in Latin and Italian. A physician, philosopher, and rabbi, De Pomis was permitted to practice medicine amongst Tuscany Christians after delivering a discourse in Latin to Pope Pius IV.
AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
A[LEF] B[ET] G[IMMEL] LE-YALDEL YISRAEL (ALEF BET GIMEL FOR CHILDREN OF ISRAEL)
Compiled, edited and illustrated by Rachel Caspi and Zvi Malewenczik Livni
Daat Publishers: Tel-Aviv, ca. 1956
Hebrew
The Jean Sorkin Moldovan Collection of Yeshiva University Museum Gift of the Jesselson Family
This delightful alef-bet book contains a cheerful two-page spread of a train and railroad tracks ornamented with all 22 Hebrew characters.
THE TRIAL OF THE JEWS OF TRENT
Trent, 1478-1479
German, Hebrew and Italian
Ink, gouache and gold on paper
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Erica and Ludwig Jesselson
Written for Eberhardt I, Duke of Württemberg, and bearing his arms, this is the only known German copy of the records of the trials of the Jews of Trent, accused of the ritual murder of a young Christian boy named Simon in 1475.
WHAT SHALL I COOK FROM AUSTERITY RATIONS
Author and publisher: Lilian Cornfeld
Tel Aviv, 1949
Hebrew
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
The influx of immigrants after the Holocaust doubled the population of Israel. The government instituted rationing based on the British parameters established during World War II to solve the problem of providing food to everyone. An austerity program was instituted at the same time since Israel suffered from a deficit which was covered by loans and foreign financing. Dov Yosef (1899-1980), Minister of Rationing and Supply in the new State of Israel, wrote the introduction to this book. In addition to recipes, this book contains advertisements for products such as the one for detergent, illustrated here, touted by a Betty Boop look alike.
ESPEJO FIEL DE VIDA QUE LAS PSALMOS DE DAVID EN VERSO
(FAITHFUL MIRROR OF LIVES: THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN VERSE)
Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna
London, 1720
Spanish
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Herbert M. Honig in memory of Alexander and Esther Honig
The author began to compose this poetical account of his experiences, and the consolation he found in the Psalms, when imprisoned by the Inquisition as a Marrano in Portugal. He completed the manuscript when he escaped to Jamaica. It was published in England under the patronage of Mordecai Nunes Almeyda.
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928.
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
AMERICAN JEWISH
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909
I. N. Phelps (Isaac Newton Phelps) Stokes
New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928.
F128.37 .S88
American Jewish Historical Society
This six-volume set is one of forty-two copies printed on Japanese vellum; 360 additional sets were printed on English hand-made paper. The front blank leaf of Volume I is inscribed and autographed by the author: “Air, water, soul, of greatest purity; and all, combined in sweetest harmony, unite the ploughed up land to fructify." New York, July, 3d 1916. I.N. Phelps Stokes.”
LEO BAECK INSTITUTE
INSTITUTE
E.M. LILIEN, SEIN WERK MIT EINER EINLEITUNG VON STEFAN ZWEIG
Ephraim Moses Lilien; Berlin: Schuster & Löffler, 1903
r (q) NE 654 L5 E4
Leo Baeck Institute
E.M. Lilien (1874-1925) was an internationally renowned Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and photographer, often considered the most prominent Jewish artist to be associated with Art Nouveau or Jugendstil, a new international style coming out of the European Secession movement at the turn of the twentieth century. This book about his work, produced in an edition of 1000 copies, contains an introduction by Stefan Zweig, the Austrian Jewish novelist, playwright, and biographer.
PHAEDON; ODER, ÜBER DIE UNSTERBLICHKEIT DER SEELE, IN DREY GESPRÄCHEN
Moses Mendelssohn
Berlin, 1767
r B 2691 P3 1767a
Leo Baeck Institute
Phaedon is one of Moses Mendelssohn's major religio-philosophical works which brought him fame throughout Europe as the "German Socrates." It was a novel effort at translation and commentary on Plato's Phaedo. The work begins as a strict translation of the Platonic dialogue, but rapidly becomes its own independent work, as Mendelssohn seeks to demonstrate the rationality of the belief in the existence of God.
SPIELZEUG
Oscar Seyffert; illustrated by W. Trier
Berlin: E. Wasmuth, 1920s
r (q) 43
Leo Baeck Institute
Oskar Seyffert, a German art professor and folklorist, created this book about children’s toys found in the Landesmuseum für Sächsische Volkskunst in Dresden, containing images by Walter Trier, a Jewish Czech-German illustrator and cartoonist.
JÜDISCHES LEBEN IN WORT UND BILD
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch; Illustrated by Alphons Levy Gerardin
Mannheim: j. Bensheimer, 1891
r (q) pt 2461 s3 j8 1891
Leo Baeck Institute
Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch was a nobleman born in 1836 In Lemberg (now Lviv) in the province of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A writer of history and folklore, he is known as a philosemite who spoke out against antisemitism. This work is a collection of short stories illustrating various aspects of Jewish life and culture throughout Europe.
THE TRIAL
Franz Kafka; illustrated by George Salter
New York: The Modern Library, 1956
st 4610 Salter v. 99
Leo Baeck Institute
George Salter is recognized as one of the most creative forces in modern book design. His innovative work, done for publishers during the Weimar Republic and for all the major publishing houses in the U.S. after his emigration, produced signature pieces for some of the important literary works of the 20th century, including this edition of Kafka’s The Trial, a novel about one man’s surreal struggle against a mindless and incomprehensible bureaucracy.
GHETTO; SIEBEN ERZÄHLUNGEN
Scholem Alejchem, Scholem Asch and Jizchok Lejb Perez; translated by Alexander Eliasberg; illustrated by Max Unold
München: G. Müller, 1921
r (q) PJ 5128 G4
Leo Baeck Institute
This German translation of a collection of Yiddish stories by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, and Leib Peretz, number 194 of an edition of 330 copies, features 12 lithographic plates by Expressionist artist Max Unold.
LEO BAECK INSTITUTE
DISCOURSE ON THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS DELIVERED AT THE TABERNACLE, OCT. 28 AND DEC. 2, 1844
M. M. (Mordecai Manuel) Noah; New-York: Harper & Brothers,1845
BS649.J5 N63 1845b; American Jewish Historical Society, Milton Gottesman Rare Book Collection, Gift of Sidney Lapidus
Mordechai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) was an influential Jewish lay leader in the United States in the early 19th century. In this work, a precursor of modern Zionism, he proclaimed his faith that the Jews would return and rebuild their ancient homeland and called on America to take the lead in this endeavor.
AN ACT TO PERMIT PERSONS PROFESSING THE JEWISH RELIGION TO BE NATURALIZED BY PARLIAMENT
Great Britain. Parliament
London: Thomas Baskett, 1753
KD4058.J48 G74 1753
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
One of only 1100 copies of this bill printed for the use of governmental officials, this was the so-called Jew Bill of 1753, Parliament's first attempt to grant full citizenship to Jews residing in England. The Act was repealed the following year after an antisemitic backlash.
AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1698 BEING THE SECOND AFTER BISSEXTILE OR LEAP-YEAR
Isaac Abendana
Oxford: Printed at the theater, [1698]
Center for Jewish History
Gift of Sidney Lapidus
Born in Spain, Isaac Abendana (c.1640–1699) became hakam of the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in London after the death of his brother Jacob. Creator of Jewish calendars as well as a Latin translation of the Mishnah for Christian readers, he became known at Oxford University as a teacher of Hebrew, purveyor of Hebrew books, and an authority on Jewish matters.
FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIDNEY LAPIDUS
