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Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735–1926: a History and Annotated Bibliography

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Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735–1926: a History and Annotated Bibliography Judaica Librarianship Volume 13 43-46 12-31-2007 Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735–1926: A History and Annotated Bibliography. Research and editing by Ari Kinsberg. Brooklyn, NY, 2006. Arthur Kiron University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ajlpublishing.org/jl Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Information Literacy Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Reading and Language Commons Recommended Citation Kiron, Arthur. 2007. "Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735–1926: A History and Annotated Bibliography. Research and editing by Ari Kinsberg. Brooklyn, NY, 2006.." Judaica Librarianship 13: 43-46. doi:10.14263/2330-2976.1084. Book Reviews 43 Goldman, Yosef. Hebrew Printing in America, 1735– Librarians, bibliophiles, book dealers, and col- 1926: A History and Annotated Bibliography. lectors—as well as students and scholars of the Research and editing by Ari Kinsberg. Brooklyn, NY, topic—will be delighted by the navigational tools 2006. 2 vols. (1,188 p.). $400. Available directly from: built into the design of HPA. In addition to the his- Yosef Goldman Books, 750 East 18th Street, Brooklyn, torical introduction and explanatory apparatus of NY 11230 ([email protected]). ISBN 1599756854. how to use the work in Volume I, the conclusion of Volume II features 13 indexes, inter alia: Hebrew Reviewed by Arthur Kiron, University of Pennsylvania and English titles; authors; places of publication; Library, Philadelphia, PA names of publishers; approbations (haskamot); names of subscription locales (containing a signifi- Yosef Goldman’s superb revitalization of our cant list of Asian [India and China], Australian, knowledge of Hebrew printing in America from Canadian, Caribbean, South American, European, colonial times through the period of mass migra- South African, North African and Middle Eastern tion effectively challenges the widespread preju- subscribers, a veritable field of research in itself); dice that the United States, and American Jewish typesetters; music arrangers, composers, and tran- history with it, has amounted to a treyfene medine, scribers of music; and artists, engravers, and pho- a wasteland unsuitable for Jewish life. Indeed, this tographers. A sub-indexed list of books containing beautifully executed two-volume work is not only chronograms (dates formed by the sum of the a hefty counter-weight to that negative opinion; it numerical values belonging to individual letters of also raises the bar of expectations for future bibli- the Hebrew alphabet) is an innovative addition to ographies of Judaica of all kinds. The conception “Index 8: Imprint Year” (see HPA II: 1,117). and design of this work effectively centralize in one The second volume concludes with two appen- convenient place, for easy reference and research, dixes, featuring reproductions of relevant manu- all the currently available information about print- scripts, including engraved and decorated ketubot, ing in Hebrew letters in one region of the world, financial receipts, an eighteenth-century mohel and the circulation of these imprints around the (circumcision) book, and autograph correspon- globe from 1735 to 1926. dence of prominent nineteenth and early twenti- Goldman’s Hebrew Printing in America (HPA), eth-century American Jewish leaders, such as Jacob undergirded by the research and editing of Ari Mordechai, Mordechai Manuel Noah, Isaac Leeser, Kinsberg, presents a fully annotated bibliography, Abraham Joseph Ash, and Abraham Yudelowitz. with multiple access points, including biographi- Appendix II provides a selection of photo portraits cal information, indexes, and a thorough compila- of early American rabbis “originally found in the tion of secondary sources. Meticulous attention collection of Benzion Eisenstadt,” a preacher, pub- was paid to the formatting—what is called “the lisher of the Hebrew journal Aspek.lariyah, bio-bibli- anatomy of a record”—and font designs of the cat- ographer, and author of the photographic treasure, alog entries, as well as to meth od o log ical issues of Otsar temunot gedole Yisra’el (Brooklyn, 1909) [HPA orthography (particularly for identifying unfamil- #534; cf. #392]. Notably—and usefully—many of the iar place names spelled in Hebrew), typography bibliographical entries are illustrated by reproduc- (e.g., noting the occurrence of Rashi type and tions of their title pages and occasionally with the pointed [vocalized] texts), and dating (because the images of selected interior illustrated pages. Hebrew calendar year starts in the fall of the Chris- The final product, printed on glossy, folio-sized tian calendar year and continues into the spring of (32 cm.) paper and handsomely bound in gold- the next, ambiguity often exists about the precise embossed, cloth-covered boards, will remain the year of publication) which are specific to Hebrew standard in the field for the foreseeable future. printing. Of particular value are the notes about Indeed, it is already accepted and being cited by each entry’s collation, book size, illustrations, and auction houses, such as Kestenbaum and Co., as paratexts—what the author terms the “includes” an authoritative reference bibliography for their part of the record: “prefatory and supplementary auction catalogs containing American Hebraica. sections such as introductions, copyrights, appen- The contents of the two volumes offer numerous dices, footnotes, advertisements, etc.” The tables new glimpses into the vibrant character of Hebrew of abbreviations also reflect the great care and publishing in America. The date of the earliest bibli- thought that was put into referencing the variety of ographical entry is 1735, the year of publication of relevant sources, descriptive terms of the modern Judah Monis’s Hebrew grammar, printed for use in book trade, and library holdings of extant copies. the instruction of the Holy Tongue at Harvard 44 Book Reviews College, where Monis, a convert to Christianity, 1926 (the terminus ad quem for HPA), as well as the taught. The bibliography concludes in 1926, shortly recent, magisterial labors of Robert Singerman in his after the “Golden Door” of immigration is virtually Judaica Americana, which covers imprints to the closed, and contains a total of 1,208 entries. Of these, year 1900 (Greenwood Press, 1990; 2 vols.). As the 1,190 are arranged chronologically within seventeen introduction makes clear, one of the innovations of chapters, comprising the following subject headings: HPA is to revise the work of Deinard and extend our Bible; Liturgy; Haggadah; Christian Hebraism; Bible knowledge of Hebrew printing beyond 1900 through Studies; Reference Works; Bibliography; Education the period of mass migration. Indeed, the author and Pedagogy; Drama, Fiction, Humor, and Poetry; spent over fifteen years tracking down extant copies Biography and History; Rabbinica; “Derash” (Ser- to compare, whenever possible, physical editions mons); Periodicals; Zionism; Miscellaneous; Chris- with the descriptions found in previous bibliogra- tian and Missionary publications; and Americana. phies. The end result is an invaluable corrective, with Most of the subject chapters are preceded by brief detailed notes about these discrepancies scattered historical introductions (though it is not clear why throughout the two volumes of entries. The decision some are chosen and not others for commentary). to arrange the entries in subject chapters enables the Following the subject chapters is chapter eighteen, reader not only to look up a particular individual an “Addenda” featuring eighteen printed items item but also to see it in the context of the printing (entries 1,191–1,208). Especially noteworthy among history of its genre as it developed over time. them is entry no. 1,192 [HPA II, 1,046–1,048] for the The tension that exists between the dual pur- Occident and American Jewish Advocate, the pio- poses of doing history and bibliography occasion- neering Jewish monthly published in Philadelphia ally show up in HPA. The word “America” in the title and edited by Isaac Leeser from 1843 to 1869 (the of this work, for example, leaves open what is the last year of publication, following Leeser’s death in chronological and geographical scope of the work. 1868, was edited by Mayer Sulzberger in fulfillment In terms of chronology—and assuming “America” of a pledge to his mentor). Conveniently provided refers to the British colonies before the American here for the first time is a list of all the “complete Revolution (given the inclusion of Monis’s gram- Hebrew contributions” published in the Occident. mar) as well as to the United States after its found- Among the remarkable historical details to be ing—why does HPA commence in 1735, when the gleaned from HPA is the fact that a Lithuanian- first example of Hebrew typography in America, as born darshan (preacher) named Yehezkel Preisser is noted in the prefatory remarks to Chapter One living in New York City in 1909 apparently was the (“Bibles”, HPA, I:1), is the The Whole Book of Psalms, first to initiate, albeit unsuccessfully, the now the so-called “Bay Psalm Book,” printed in Cam- worldwide Jewish religious custom of Daf Yomi bridge, Massachusetts in 1640? The criteria for (the seven-and-a-half year cycle of reading of the inclusion in HPA are unclear: if it is the occurrence entire Babylonian Talmud undertaken by obser- of Hebrew type in a printed work, then how much vant Jews around the world reading a
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