Sefer Avnei Yehoshua (First Original Hebrew Book Published in America)

Book Description

FALK, Josuha. Sefer Avnei Yehoshua [Commentary on Ethics of the Fathers]. New York: Printed at the Jewish Messenger office, 1860. Octavo. 108pp. Original black cloth. Modern binding. Spine chipped with loss. Corners bumped. Overall, a very tight and Very Good copy.FIRST ORIGINAL HEBREW WORK WRITTEN IN THE UNITED STATES TO BE PUBLISHED IN AMERICA. The typesetter, Naptali ben Katriel Shmuel of Thorn (Prussia), added a colophon expressing his gratitude that it was his good fortune to set in type the first Hebrew book written and published in America (other than the bible and prayerbook). Avnei Yehoshua, a commentary on the Ethics of the Fathers, is the first scholarly and first rabbinic text published in America. The author, Joshua Falk, was born in Poland in 1799, arrived in America in 1858, and died during the year of publication while on a visit to his daughter in Iowa. During his two-year stay in America he served as a rabbi in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, New York.“Apart from a reprint at Philadelphia in 1814 of Athias’ unpointed Bible, and Isaac Leeser’s rerpint of the Van der Hooght Bible in 1849, the first Hebrew book printed in America was “Abne Yehoshua,” by Joshua Falk.” --- The Jewish Encyclopedia, v. 12, p. 326.“The first learned work in Hebrew…written in America.” --- Bernard Drachman, “Neo-Hebraic Literature in America,” Appendix to Jewish Theological Seminary Association. Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial Convention, New York, 1900. P. 64f.RARITY: Singerman 1653 cites 4 institutional copies, OCLC locates three additional copies. No copy has appeared in auction records in more than a decade.

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.