(Warder Cresson). Babylon the Great Is Falling! The Morning Star, or Light from on High. Written in Defence of the Rights of the Poor and Oppressed.

Auction 85 | Thursday, November 07th, 2019 at 1:00pm
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Art

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Lot 13
(AMERICAN-JUDAICA)

(Warder Cresson). Babylon the Great Is Falling! The Morning Star, or Light from on High. Written in Defence of the Rights of the Poor and Oppressed.

<<First edition.>> pp. 67, (1), 3. Foxed. Unbound. 8vo.

Philadelphia: Garden and Thompson 1830

Est: $1,000 - $1,500
PRICE REALIZED $900
Warder Cresson’s first literary production. Cresson takes American society to task for its glitz and gluttony while the orphan and widow remain unprovided for. Speaking of the winter of 1829 he writes: “You may look for and find the frozen and starved dead in the alleys and hovels of cities…while in Philadelphia and many other large cities…balls and parties were advertised…sideboards were glittering with hundreds of Dollars worth of costly and superfluous plate; while horses and carriages were rattling through the streets, with priests and professors in them; often telling you to Love your neighbor as yourselves, and as often telling Actions speak louder than words.” His message is that God’s judgment is coming soon. “O! United States of America, wilt thou suffer now, in these, the days of thy infancy?” asks Cresson. Warning that the great sin of slavery is worse than any in any other nation in history, because here it is coupled with hypocrisy, “inasmuch as her light and knowledge of true liberty has been greater.” Cresson’s message is, of course, that national penitence is badly needed. Born into an old Quaker Philadelphia family, Warder Cresson (1798-1860) traveled through a series of religious awakenings, before becoming deeply interested in Judaism, subsequent to which he formed a strong relationship with Philadelphia’s Rev. Isaac Leeser. He was also influenced by the writings of Mordecai Manuel Noah, who campaigned for the return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland in Palestine. In 1844 Cresson was appointed United States Consul at Jerusalem, the first to hold such office. Upon arrival to take up his diplomatic mission, he was much affected by Jerusalem’s surroundings and converted to Judaism four years later.