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"The Foremost Champion of Jewish Tradition in America"

[AMERICAN JUDAICA].

Constitution and By-Laws of the American Jewish Publication Society. (Founded on the 9th of Heshvan, 5606). Adopted at Philadelphia, on Sunday, November 30, 1845, Kislev 1, 5606.

Place and Imprint: Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 5606 [1845].
Edition: First edition, first printing; there was a second printing dated 1846.
Bibliographical References: Singerman, Judaica Americana, 881; not in Rosenbach; OCLC records six copies of this first printing and three of the second.
Condition: Wrappers slightly chipped; fine copy.
Book ID: 28791

Physical Description

12mo, original plan tan wrappers, 11 pages.

Comments

A seminal document of the American Jewish Publication Society, a pioneering organization dedicated to the advancement of Jewish culture and religion in America, founded in Philadelphia in 1845 by educator and writer Isaac Lesser (1806-1868), "the foremost champion of Jewish tradition in America" - DAB. The introduction states: "The subscribers, deeply impressed with the necessity of fostering Jewish Literature and of diffusing the utmost possible knowledge, among all classes of Israelites, of the tenets of their religion and the history of their people; and feeling that the attainment of this project is beyond the means of any individual, and that association is a powerful lever to foster any great and good cause, do combine, as a society, for the purpose of carrying the above objects into effect, and pledge themselves to each other to contribute all in their power to promote the interest of their association." The Society published fourteen works in a series entitled Jewish Miscellany before declining subscriptions and a fire brought its activities to an end in 1851. Stamp of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning on the front wrapper and Leeser Library Hebrew Education Society oval stamp on the title-page. The relatively scant holdings recorded by OCLC is deceptive. A remainder from the Dropsie College of Philadelphia with their stamp on the front wrapper and the stamp of the Leeser Society on the title-page, as here, began surfacing in the trade as early as the 1980s. They have the characteristics of the kind of remainders that Edward Morrill and Son had a profusion of on the upper floors of their Boston bookstore; copies with identical provenance appeared in the 1980 catalogues of M & S Rare Books of Weston, Mass, and Charles Wood of Cambridge, supporting this hypothesis.

Price: $850.00