(Bible, English). Torah Nevi’im U’kethuvim- The Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures. Carefully Translated According to the Massoratic Text, After the Best Jewish Authorities and Supplied with Short Explanatory Notes by ISAAC LEESER.

(ANGLO-AMERICAN JUDAICA).

L. Johnson & Co

Philadelphia

1853

FIRST EDITION. Printed in two columns. Extraordinary contemporary high relief binding, elaborately blind- and gilt-tooled calf over thick boards. The Davis-Franklin-May Family copy, with detailed manuscript records of births, marriages and deaths within this prominent Anglo family.

Goldman 12; Singerman 1271.

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST JEWISH TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE INTO ENGLISH. A FINE COPY, EXCEPTIONALLY GRANDLY BOUND. Isaac Leeser, a pioneer of American Judaism, published the first Jewish translation of the entire Bible into English to wean off American Jews (most of whom could not read Hebrew) from the King James version and its Christological interpretations. “In presenting this work to the public, the translator would merely remark, that it is not a new notion by which he was seized of late years which impelled him to the task, but a desire entertained for more than a quarter of a century, since the day he quitted school in his native land to come to this country, to present to his fellow-Israelites an English version, made by one of themselves, of the Holy Word of God.” Leeser’s translation has become the standard Bible for English-speaking Jews, especially in America. It was greeted with acclaim by all circles and continues to be used in synagogues to this day. See L.J. Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism (1995) pp. 186-93. This particular Bible was presented in 1866 to Emily Sarah Davis (1837-1902) by her fiancé Lewis Abraham Franklin (1820-79) a member of Anglo-Jewry’s aristocratic Franklin family who flourished in England following the re-admission by Oliver Cromwell. Emily’s mother was Eliza Davis of Tavistock Square who sold her house to Charles Dickens with whom she maintained an extended correspondence both in relation to the house and Dickens’ attitudes about Jews. Emily’s father was Phineas May who was a cousin of Philip Samuel (son of Viscount Samuel). The opening blank of the Bible is poetically inscribed by Lewis Franklin to his bride Emily envisioning their future loving life together. Several pages at the end of the volume contain extended family records in both Hebrew and English. (The details of which may be provided upon request).