The New Jamaica Almanack and Register, Calculated to the Meridian of the Island for the Year of our Lord 1795.
AUCTION 64 |
Thursday, March 19th,
2015 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Ceremonial Objects, Maps and Graphic Art
Lot 13
(AMERICAN JUDAICA).
The New Jamaica Almanack and Register, Calculated to the Meridian of the Island for the Year of our Lord 1795.
Saint Jago de la Vega (Spanish Town, Jamaica): David Dickson for Thomas Stevenson, Kingston 1795
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
PRICE REALIZED $6,000
Almanacs issued in Jamaica included a page of the Jewish calendar as early as 1776, which “would seem to be an indication of the importance of Jewish residents in the eyes of Christian Jamaicans.” (See B. W. Korn, “The Haham DeCordova of Jamaica,” in: American Jewish Archives 18.2 (Nov. 1966) p. 141 n.2). These Jamaican calendars therefore, represent the very <<earliest appearances of Hebrew font in the Western Hemisphere,>> in a publication intended specifically for Jews. Earlier works with Hebrew type, such as Judah Monis’s Hebrew Grammar, were intended for a Gentile audience. It is interesting to note that the first Hebrew calendar on the American continent was not printed until 1851 (Singerman S463).