BIBLE, Hebrew and English. Pentateuch. Torath Ha-Elo-him - The Law of God. “Edited, and With Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised” by Isaac Leeser.
AUCTION 35 |
Tuesday, November 21st,
2006 at 1:00
Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 13
(AMERICAN JUDAICA)
BIBLE, Hebrew and English. Pentateuch. Torath Ha-Elo-him - The Law of God. “Edited, and With Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised” by Isaac Leeser.
Philadelphia: C. Sherman 1845
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
PRICE REALIZED $6,500
The first translation into English of any part of the Bible by an American Jew, for a specifically American Jewish audience.
Isaac Lesser’s crowning literary achievement, this was the standard Jewish translation of the Pentateuch into the 20th century. Leeser’s beautifully worded introduction recounts his desire to present this translation specifically for an American Jewish readership. See B.J. Bamberger, American Jewish Translations of the Bible in: The Jewish Book Annual (1957) pp.33-40; L.J. Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism (1995), pp. 150-152.
Caroline Myers (b. Dec. 5, 1844-Dec. 11,1928) married Edward Cohen (of Baltimore) on December 6, 1865. Thus, the gift of this Bible was presented to her on her eleventh birthday, Dec. 5, 1855. See Malcolm H. Stern, Americans of Jewish Descent (1960), pp. 26,156.
M[ary] J[ane] Solomons, born New York 1818, and deceased Washington, 1905, was unmarried. Stern, p. 199.
Henry H[armon] Tobias of New York was born in 1849 and died in 1910. Stern, p.213.