Ithiel HaKushi MeVenezia / Othello the Moor of Venice by Shakspeare [sic!]. Translated into Hebrew by J. E. Salkinson. Edited by Peretz Smolenskin.
AUCTION 55 |
Thursday, June 21st,
2012 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 214
SHAKESPEARE, WILLLIAM.
Ithiel HaKushi MeVenezia / Othello the Moor of Venice by Shakspeare [sic!]. Translated into Hebrew by J. E. Salkinson. Edited by Peretz Smolenskin.
Vienna: Spitzer & Holzwarth Jun. 1874
Est: $600 - $800
PRICE REALIZED $550
<<THE FIRST TRANSLATION OF ANY OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS INTO THE HEBREW LANGUAGE.>>
Smolenskin writes in the the introduction: “Shakespeare’s plays in the Holy Tongue! …what a great prize the translator of these plays has brought into the treasure-house of our [Hebrew] language.” See EJ, Vol. XIV, cols. 1262-3.
(There is an old Jewish joke about a Yiddish translation of Shakespeare on whose title-page appear the words “ibergezetzt un farbessert” (“translated and improved.”) The present translation makes no such claim!).