Chart, or Primer to teach the English alphabet to Yiddish-speaking immigrants.

AUCTION 63 | Thursday, November 13th, 2014 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic and Ceremonial Art

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

Lot 21
(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

Chart, or Primer to teach the English alphabet to Yiddish-speaking immigrants.

Fonts in English and Yiddish Single leaf. Worn at edges. Folio (landscape)

New York: J. Katzenelenbogen, circa 1900

Est: $2,000 - $2,500
A highly original and very scarce production, designed with a fine sense of graphic style. The method of instruction transliterates into Yiddish-phonetics each of the letters of the English alphabet, hence the letter “A” is delineated in Hebrew letters as “Ay” (Alef, Yud, Yud); “B” (Beis, Yud, Yud); “C” (Samech, Yud), etc. The transliterations of the letters “H,” “J,” and “W,” for which there are no obviously available Hebrew phonetical letters are here designated quite amusingly. Clearly this fragile chart was an important tool for the newly arrived Yiddish-speaking immigrant to America.