BIBLE, Hebrew and English. Pentateuch. Torath Ha-Elo-him - The Law of God. “Edited, and With Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised” by Isaac Leeser.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

C. Sherman

Philadelphia

1845

FIRST EDITION. Complete set of five volumes in various bindings. Hebrew and English on facing pages. Vol. III has inscription in ink on front fly, “Miss M.J. Solomons, August, 1854.” (See below)

Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America 7; Rosenbach 569; Singerman 884

The first translation into English of any part of the Bible by an American Jew, for a specifically American Jewish audience. Isaac Lesser’s crowning literary achievement, this was the standard Jewish translation of the Pentateuch into the 20th century. Leeser’s beautifully worded introduction recounts his desire to present this translation specifically for an American Jewish readership. See B.J. Bamberger, American Jewish Translations of the Bible in: The Jewish Book Annual (1957) pp.33-40; L.J. Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism (1995), pp. 150-152. Caroline Myers (b. Dec. 5, 1844-Dec. 11,1928) married Edward Cohen (of Baltimore) on December 6, 1865. Thus, the gift of this Bible was presented to her on her eleventh birthday, Dec. 5, 1855. See Malcolm H. Stern, Americans of Jewish Descent (1960), pp. 26,156. M[ary] J[ane] Solomons, born New York 1818, and deceased Washington, 1905, was unmarried. Stern, p. 199. Henry H[armon] Tobias of New York was born in 1849 and died in 1910. Stern, p.213.