Manuscript Henry Michael (1 results)

60pp 4to in orig. grey wrappers, front wrapper titled in ms., with brief preface written on verso; a little dusted & marked, spine largely defective with final gathering working loose. A complete manuscript short story, written over 60 numbered pages in a clear and legible hand, totalling some 12,000 words. With authorial corrections, additions, and excisions. The story is dated on the front wrapper '2 March 1849', making the author only 19 at the time of its production, and therefore forming one of the earliest known examples of this important Jewish activist's writing. Michael Henry, 1830-1875, was a patent officer by occupation, but from an early age gained prominence within London's Jewish community for his commitment to improving educational and social standards, and other charitable exertions. He contributed regularly to Jewish newspapers and periodicals, and from 1869 until his death was editor of the Jewish Chronicle. Largely unknown outside the Jewish community, a volume of his works was nevertheless published in 1876, the year after his death; an effort to cast light on his lifelong benevolence. In the introduction to Life Thoughts of Michael Henry, he is described as having 'but one object in life - to make his fellow-men and fellow-Jews happier, wiser and better'. This manuscript story, which as far as we know was never published, is an ultimately uplifting tale of faith lost and faith regained, involving death, loneliness, and ghostly apparitions. It describes the journey of a man led from the pits of despair to the joy of salvation, through the kindness and commitment of an unheralded niece. Several other titles are listed in manuscript on the front wrapper, but we have not been able to trace them.