FISHBURN BOOKS | JUDAICA LIST | July 2020 www.fishburnbooks.com | [email protected] PH: +44 208 4559139 50 ITEMS: AMERICAN JUDAICA, THE ERUV, PALESTINE MANDATE, ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE HOLOCAUST, ANGLO JUDAICA AND OTHER EPHEMERA 1. [SIR HAROLD MACMICHAEL] MURDER! SIR HAROLD MAC MICHAEL, KNOWN AS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR PALESTINE WANTED FOR MURDER OF 800 REFUGEES DROWNED IN THE BLACK SEA ON THE BOAT “STRUMA” Palestine c 1942 Small hand bill 17 x 13 cm. Sir Harold Mac Michael, was the fifth High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine (1938-44). He rigidly implemented the anti-Zionist policy of the 1939 ‘White Paper,’ refusing to admit Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe to Palestine. The Struma was a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to Mandatory Palestine. The British authorities, led by MacMichael, refused to let it dock in Haifa. On the ship’s return to Europe, it foundered in the Black Sea and nearly 800 Jewish passengers were killed. There was only a single survivor. [ref: 19920 ] £350 2. [ANTI-SEMITISM] CAPP, AL - HENRY EDWARD SCHULTZ, HERMAN WOUK. - MAMMY YOKUM AND THE DOGPATCH MYSTERY New York Anti-Defamation League of the Bnai Brith 1956 Original wrappers, 26cm, 17 un-numbered pages mostly cartoons, there is a foreword by Henry Edward Schultz, the National Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of the Bnai Brith. Postscript by Herman Wouk, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. This comic book reprints a fable about prejudice and racial harmony by Al Capp. The story first appeared in Capp's L'il Abner comic strip. It was printed and distributed by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. When a family with square eyes moves into Dogpatch, the round-eyed residents form a mob to drive the newcomers away. When one of the square-eyed children is hurt, Mammy Yokum discovers that what she has in common with the new folks is more important than their differences. She stops the mob and helps her neighbors get to know the new family. Mammy Yokum declares, "We is all square shooters, so we gotta give them folks wif th' square eyes a square deal!! Th' l'il diff'runces between folks shouldn't hide th' big things thass th' same 'bout all of us!!" [ref: 19918 ] £300 3. PHOTO ALBUM RELATING TO THE SS BEN HECHT [ABRIL] - ALIYAH B. Illegal immigrants circa 1947. 38x32cm This album was compiled by a student who travelled to the USA to go to UCLA. He left from Haifa in March 1947. Includes photographs of the crew of the Arbil [renamed the SS Ben Hecht]. It is unclear what the connection the student had to the SS Ben Hecht. Hecht wrote the script for the Bergson Group's production of A Flag is Born,[see next item] which opened on September 5, 1946 at the Alvin Playhouse in New York City. The play, which compared the Zionist underground's campaign in Palestine to the American Revolution, was intended to increase public support for the Zionist cause in the United States. The play starred Marlon Brando and Paul Muni during its various productions. The proceeds from the play [$400,000] were used to purchase a ship [Arbil] that was renamed the SS Ben Hecht, which transported Holocaust survivors to Palestine in March 1947. The Royal Navy captured the ship after it docked, and 600 of its passengers were detained as illegal immigrants and sent to the Cyprus internment camps. The SS Ben Hecht later became the flagship of the Israeli Navy. The crew was imprisoned by the British authorities in Acre Prison, and assisted in the preparations for the Acre Prison break. One the crew was Walter Cushenberry. Tall, 33 years old, originally from Mayfield, Kentucky, he was living in Brooklyn at the time he volunteered for the voyage. Berkovits, who became particularly friendly with Cushenberry, remembered: "As a Black man, he knew what it was like to be kicked around, and he didn't like seeing the Jews get kicked around." Captain Levitan described him as "one of the gentlest men you could ever meet, and he just liked helping out the underdog. The Abril sailed, December 27, 1946, for Southern France and Port du Bouc. March 1, 1947, she left France for Palestine. Her decks were crammed with over 600 Holocaust survivors eagerly looking eastward. While at sea, the Abril was renamed the S.S. Ben Hecht. Seven days later, March 8, she was spotted by British reconnaissance aircraft. British destroyers intercepted the Ben Hecht. She was boarded, impounded and towed to Haifa under British control. The refugees were sent to the prison camps in Cyprus. The American crew was arrested and sent to the infamous Acre Prison. "Dealing with the American crewmen, however, was more complicated. While the British government pondered their fate, Cushenberry and the rest of the crew were taken to the Acre Prison fortress, where they were jailed alongside members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi underground militia. The album contains about 166 photographs in total. The album starts with him leaving Haifa and the journey to the USA there are 19 photographs of the crew of the SS Ben Hecht. He arrived in NY on April 16th 1947. There are some photographs of NY, his trip across the USA to California and finally photographs of UCLA. [ref: 19219 ] £850 4. HECHT, BEN (1894 - 1964) A FLAG IS BORN New York American League for A Free Palestine, 1946 Original light green wrappers with red title, 31cm, 48 pp + 4 pages of photos. Hecht was a highly successful American screenwriter who became a Zionist and supporter of the Irgun. This play was put on by the American League for A Free Palestine in NY in 1946. There are 4 pages of photographs featuring several New York notables and the cast. Some signs of wear, overall very good condition. A Flag Is Born was a play promoting the creation of a Jewish State in the ancient land of Israel. It opened on Broadway on September 4, 1946. The cast included Paul Muni, Celia Adler and Marlon Brando. Hollywood's most successful screenwriter, Ben Hecht was the playwright. It was directed by Luther Adler with music by Kurt Weill. It was produced by the American League for a Free Palestine, an organization headed by Hillel Kook, known in America by the anglicized name Peter Bergson. It raised $400,000 which was used to purchase a ship the Arbil renamed as the SS Ben Hecht for the transportation of Holocaust survivors and refugees to Palestine. See previous item. [ref: 18237 ] £250 5. FINN, JAMES. - THE SEPHARDIM, OR THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL London , J G F & J Rivington, 1841. First edition. Attractively rebound with a leather spine. xv + 486 pp + 2 pages publisher’s ads. James Finn, the British Consul in Jerusalem from 1845 to 1863, was a philo-Semite and wrote several works relating to the Jews. [ref: 19883] £350 6. FINN, JAMES- THE JEWS IN CHINA: THEIR SYNAGOGUE, THEIR SCRIPTURES, THEIR HISTORY, &C London B Wertheim 1843 First edition. Orig cloth, 3 Chinese letters in gilt on top board and on half title. 19cm, 86 pp. Text in English with some Hebrew in the appendix. The cloth is rubbed and tearing at the spine, hinges are cracked. Endpapers have some pencil writing on them. James Finn was the British Consul in Jerusalem (1853-1864). He was sympathetic to the Jewish community and wrote several books relating to the Jews and a couple relating to Jewish people in China of which this is the first. [ref: 9991] £380 7. THE JEWISH CHRONICLE - SINGLE ISSUE 1883 Friday, March 23, 1883. London, The Jewish Chronicle 1883. This issue has a long obituary of Sir George Jessel, who was the Liberal MP for Dover. Knighted in 1872, he served as Solicitor General from 1871-1873, the first practising Jew to hold a governmental office. He was also the first Jewish judge and the first Jew to be a vice chancellor of a university (from 1880 University of London). Wear especially to the edges. [ref: 19896] £45 8. WEINBERGER, MOSES - HA-YEHUDIM VEHA-YAHADUT BE-NU YORK JEWS AND JUDAISM IN NEW YORK New York, Nuyorker yidishe tsaytung, 1887 Original wrappers, xii + 124 pp. Singerman 3607. Text in Hebrew. A sorry account of the collapse of traditional Jewish life among New York’s immigrants. The Hungarian-born author records the fact that in a city of 100,000 Jews and 130 Orthodox congregations, there are to be found no more than three or four bona fide halachic experts, whereas there are hundreds of “darshanim” or preachers of homiletics (p. 4). However, Weinberger notes the opening of Yeshivath Eitz Chaim, an institution he feels to be well equipped to instill a sense of faith and learning into its charges. Eitz Chaim was the seed which, upon amalgamation with the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Seminary, became New York’s Yeshiva University. See S. Klaperman, The Story of Yeshiva University (1967) [ref: 19858] £850 9. HEBREW EMIGRANT AID SOCIETY BERICHT DES PRASIDENTEN UND SCHATZ. MEISTERS FU ÜR DAS JAHR 1882. New York 1883 Original printed wrappers, 23 cm, 17 pp, 1 leaf, 1 table. Text in German. Split at spine. Worldcat lists one copy at NYPL Singerman - S419 English version Singerman - S117 OCLC 40413924 [ref: 19838 ] £500 10. DICK, ISAAC MEIR. DI SHEYNE HELENA DI TSVEYTE; EYNE HISTORISHE GESHIKHTE OYS DER TSAYT DER YAKOBINER IN FRANKRAYKH 1789.. New York, ML Rodkinson, bidefus shel “Ha-Kol” 1889 Paper covered boards and cloth back-strip, 21cm, 48 pp.