Mayer, Nathan, M.D. The Last of the Asmoneans [historical novel]

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

Bloch & Co.

Cincinnati

1859

FIRST EDITION. Printed in double columns.

Unrecorded by Singerman

Author's Signed Copy of Rare Novel. This novel is set back in ancient Judea during the reign of murderous King Herod, who usurped the Hasmonean dynasty. The author's integration of the sage Baba ben Buta in the script (see p.23) shows remarkable familiarity with the Talmudic version of this tragic chapter in Jewish history (see TB, Bava Bathra 3b-4a). Dr. Nathan Mayer of Cincinnati wrote several historical novels: The Fatal Secret; or, Plots and Counterplots. A Novel of the Sixteenth Century Founded on Facts (Cincinnati, 1858); Differences: A Novel (Cincinnati, 1867). These are recorded by Singerman (1538 & 2026). However The Last of the Asmoneans is unrecorded. Singerman also records by the same author: A Poem Read by Surgeon Nathan Mayer, October 11, 1894, at the Dedication of a Monument by the Sixteenth Connecticut Where They Fought at Antietam, September 17, 1862 (Hartford, 1894) [Singerman 4727]