Possibly Unique Copy (2 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. SIGNED. Rare and possibly unique Penguin first reprint. In 1939 Penguin were still using dust wrappers on some of their paperbacks, and this has one. But on the title page you will find why this copy is likely to be unique. It is beautifully signed 'John Fothergill' in ink, and that ink is now pleasantly faded into a kind of aged sepia. There are faults; at the rear of the book is a page of Penguin and Pelican titles, and a piece of the page has been torn out, a section measuring about 3 inches by 1 inch. The delicate jacket has some creases and chips, but at least it is now protected in a mylar sleeve. The jacket under the sleeve remains essentially complete, including the price, which in those days was 6d, which in today's money is less than three pence. A vastly entertaining read, this wonderful account of hostelry keeping reads with great charm and a waspish insight today. As one reviewer wrote, 'A narrative, humorous, sarcastic, independent, and often personal to the razor edge of offence, a book in perfect keeping with the character it exploits.' This is one of the deep blue Penguin 'Memoirs' issues. Because of the presence of the jacket, the book itself sports a wonderfully preserved classic design. But it is the signature that makes this so very collectable. Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng. Signed by Author.

1st edition. Single fold pamphlet, 12mo (postcard-size), text on 2 of [4] pages. Invitation to Gustav Gottheil's 70th birthday celebration written by Israel Davidson, when he was still just a young A.B. (Bachelor of the Arts). The invitation reads (in translation): A Poem of Gold In honor of the man, a pillar was erected, honoring our rabbis and educating the poor, He loves his people and defends his religion, his glory is over Israel, the Lord God Almighty. The Brilliant Dr. Gustav Gottheil, Nero Yair Wiehl, Chief preacher for the Emanu-El Congregation in New York, Send to him On the day you turned seventy years old May 28, 1897. From the one who seeks his peace and basks in his light, Israel Davidson, B.A." An addition poem in Hebrew is included inside. Gustav Gottheil (1827-1903) "was educated in Posen under Rabbi Solomon Plessner, and later continued his studies at the universities of Berlin and Halle (Ph.D.), receiving in the meanwhile his 'hattarat hora'ah' in the former city from Samuel Holdheim, whose assistant he became (1855). He also studied under Zunz and Steinschneider. In 1860 he set out from the Berliner Reform Gemeinde to labor for progressive Judaism in new fields. In 1860 he received a call from the Reform Jews of Manchester, England, and he went thither as rabbi to the Manchester Congregation of British Jews.Two of his most noteworthy sermons preached in Manchester were on the slavery question, attacking those who had declared the institution to be sanctioned by Mosaic law. He left Manchester in 1873, having been elected to succeed the Rev. J. K. Gutheim as assistant to Dr. Samuel Adler, the senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York. When Adler retired about eighteen months later, Gottheil succeeded him. On taking charge he reorganized the religious school, and assisted in founding a theological school where preliminary training might be imparted to future candidates for the rabbinate. He prepared in 1886 the first Jewish hymn-book printed in America (with music in a separate volume by A. Davis); it contains not only traditional Jewish hymns, but also others of Christian origin, and upon it was based the Union Hymnal, which has since been generally adopted by the Reform congregations in the United States. In 1889 he started the first Sisterhood of Personal Service, a philanthropic organization affiliated with Temple Emanu-El which has served as a model for similar institutions elsewhere. Dr. Gottheil was the founder of the Association of Eastern Rabbis, and when it was assimilated with the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1890 he took an active part in the deliberations. He was one of the founders and the president of the (American) Jewish Publication Society, vice-president of the Federation of American Zionists, chairman of the Revision Committee for the Union Prayer-Book, and one of the governors of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. In honor of his seventy-fifth birthday a 'Gustav Gottheil Lectureship in Semitic Languages' was founded at Columbia University" (Cyrus Adler & Frank H. Vizetelly in JE) Israel Davidson (1870-1939), who studied at yeshivas in Jonava, Volozhin, and Slobodka was became a "world-recognized authority in his field.He was the author of the 'Thesaurus of Medieval Hebrew Poetry,' completed in 1933 after nearly twenty years of work. The four-volume 2,000-page thesaurus is printed in Hebrew except for a few pages of preface. It won for him in 1936 a $1,000 prize from the Bislik Foundation. Dr. Davidson was the author of 'Parody in Jewish Literature,' published in English in 1907. He was the editor of 'Sepher Shaashuim,' a book of medieval lore, published in Hebrew in 1914; of 'Saadia's Polemic Against Hiwi at Balkhi,' published in Hebrew in 1915, and 'Book of the Wars of the Lord' by Salmon C. Yeruhim, published in Hebrew in 1934. [He] graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1895 [2 years before publication of this invitation]. He became a fellow in Semitics at Columbia University in 1900, where he took a Ph.D. degree in 1902. He was an instructor in medieval Hebrew literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1905 and a full professor in 1916. Since 1928 he had occupied the William Prager Chair of Medieval Hebrew Literature there. In 1926 he lectured at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Dr. Davidson received the degree of Doctor of Hebrew Law from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and that of Doctor of Hebrew Letters from Dropsie College in Phila- delphia, both in 1937" (NYT, 1939). We could locate no copies anywhere using OCLC, Archive Grid, OCLC, or any other method. Possibly a unique surviving copy. Very Good+ Condition. (AMR-65-6).