Lazarus, Emma. Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death, and other Poems
AUCTION 24 |
Tuesday, June 29th,
2004 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Ceremonial Art and Holy Land Maps Including Ceremonial Art from the Collection of Daniel M. Friedenberg
Lot 16
(AMERICAN JUDAICA)
Lazarus, Emma. Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death, and other Poems
New York: The American Hebrew 1882
Est: $300 - $400
PRICE REALIZED $200
The poet Emma Lazarus (1849-87) was born of a New York Sephardic family and is most celebrated for her iconic sonnet “The New Colossus” which in 1903 was inscribed on the pedestal of the Staue of Liberty - a beacon to the “huddled masses yearning to breath free.”
The present collection includes passionate Jewish poems including “The Dance to Death,” a verse tragedy about the burning of the Jews in Thuringia during the era of the Black Death. The poem was dedicated to George Eliot “the illustrious writer who did most among the artists of our day towards elevating and ennobling the spirit of Jewish Nationality.”