HYNEMAN, REBEKAH. The Leper, and Other Poems

A scarce first edition in the original binding. Rebekah Hyneman was born in Pennsylvania in 1816 to a Jewish father, Abraham Gumpertz and a Christian mother. In 1835, she married a Jewish peddler Benjamin Hyneman who died in mysterious circumstances while on business in Texas in 1839. In 1845, Rebekah and her two sons, Elias Leon and Samuel, were formally converted to Judaism under the aegis of Rev. Isaac Leeser of Congregation Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia. Following her conversion, Rebekah regularly contributed religious poetry to Leeser's landmark journal, The Occident