54 96 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). (Samuel Sewall). An Hebrew Grammar. FIRST EDITION. pp. vi, 83. Blanks removed, previous owners’ inscriptions, foxed. Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, rubbed. 8vo.[Rosenbach 43 (illus.); Goldman 172.] Boston, R. and S. Draper, for the Honorable and Reverend the President and Fellows of Harvard-College, 1763. $1000-1500 ❧ ONE OF JUST TWO HEBREW GRAMMARS PRINTED IN THE AMERICAS PRIOR TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Stephen Sewall (1734-1804) was professor of Hebrew at Harvard and one of the leading Oriental scholars of his day. He succeeded Judah Monis as instructor in Hebrew at Harvard in 1761, a position Sewall held for more than twenty years. - This is the second Hebrew grammar produced in America, preceded only by Monis’s Hebrew grammar published in 1735. For more on Hebrew studies in Colonial America, see S. Goldman (ed.), Hebrew and the Bible in America (1993), especially T. Siegal’s contribution: “Professor Stephen Sewall and the Transformation of Hebrew at Harvard.” 97 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). (Houston, George). Israel Vindicated; Being A Refutation of the Calumnies PropagatedRespecting the Jewish Nation: in which the Objects and Views of the American Society for the Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews, are Investigated. By an Israelite. FIRST EDITION. The Alfred G. Henriques copy. pp. viii, 110, (1), (1 blank). Ex-library. Mottled calf, upper cover starting. Recent blind-tooled tan calf. Sm. 4to.[Singerman 323; Rosenbach 210]. New York, Abraham Collins, 1820. $1000-1500 ❧ In the form of an exchange of letters between one Nathan Joseph of New York to his friend Jacob Isaacs of Philadelphia, a defense of Judaism against the proselytizing activities of the American Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews. “In a country, where every man’s right to publish his sentiments is held as sacred as his right to think, it cannot be thought surprising that a part of the community, who have long been treated as the outcasts of society, should feel anxious to vindicate themselves from what they consider misrepresentation” (Preface, p. v). THE FIRST PUBLIC JEWISH REACTION TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ACTIVITY.” 98 (AMERICAN JUDAICA). Leeser, Isaac. Sidur Sifthei Tzadikim - The Form of Prayers. Service for the Day of Atonement. Vol. III [only, of six] ISAAC LEESER’S PERSONAL COPY, WITH HIS AUTOGRAPH MARGINAL CORRECTIONS IN MANY PLACES IN BOTH HEBREW AND ENGLISH ff. (1, of 2), 246 + supplement pp. 3. Lacks additional title-page in English. Lightly foxed, few leaves neatly remargined. Modern calf-backed boards, 8vo.[Goldman, 36; Vinograd, Philadelphia 12.] Philadelphia, Haswell, Barrington & Haswell, 1838. $2000-3000 Lot 96 Lot 97