Marks, Harry H. Down with the Jews! Meeting of the Society for Suppressing the Jewish Race. A Terrible Plot Against the Chosen People.

AUCTION 55 | Thursday, June 21st, 2012 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art

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Lot 28
(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

Marks, Harry H. Down with the Jews! Meeting of the Society for Suppressing the Jewish Race. A Terrible Plot Against the Chosen People.

Signed Alexander Finelite on first page. pp. 4. Unbound. 4to. Singerman 2867.

New York: Fr. Groneberg’s Books & Printing Office (188?)

Est: $1,200 - $1,800
PRICE REALIZED $1,100
Initially reading as a classic anti-Semitic screed (“If America is not to be Judaized, the Christians must unite to suppress these formidable rivals by excluding them as much as possible from social advantage…(so that) they might soon be persuaded to return to Jerusalem where they ought always to have remained…” Further reading indicates that this is in fact a bitingly clever satire - suggesting that due to the involvement of Jews in multiple areas of life, the meeting herewith resolved to denounce democracy, no longer attend any form of public entertainment, not read much in the way of books and newspapers, cease traveling by railroad, no longer study the Bible nor accept the principles of the Ten Commandments. The pamphlet concludes: “After a vote of thanks to the Chair, the meeting adjourned with three cheers for Haman and Hilton, Torquemada and Corbin, the Inquisition and the [restricted] Manhattan Beach Hotel. “. A publication indicative of the growing confidence of New York’s Jews, no longer willing to lay low should anti-Semitic behavior raise its ugly head, to the extent of making light and seeking to humiliate those who would seek to denigrate the Jewish community.