Item 86473. TOLDOT HA-HAKHAM HA-HOKER ELOHI RABENU MOSHEH BEN MENAHEM ZTS"L…MENDELSSOHNS LEBEN VON ISAK EICHEL. [STANDS ON ITS OWN; VOL I, PART II OF ZEMIROT ISRAEL. SEMIROTH JISRAEL: SAMMLUNG DER KLASSISCHEN WERKE NEUHEBRÄISCHER POETEN UND PROSAIKER]
Item 86473. TOLDOT HA-HAKHAM HA-HOKER ELOHI RABENU MOSHEH BEN MENAHEM ZTS"L…MENDELSSOHNS LEBEN VON ISAK EICHEL. [STANDS ON ITS OWN; VOL I, PART II OF ZEMIROT ISRAEL. SEMIROTH JISRAEL: SAMMLUNG DER KLASSISCHEN WERKE NEUHEBRÄISCHER POETEN UND PROSAIKER]

TOLDOT HA-HAKHAM HA-HOKER ELOHI RABENU MOSHEH BEN MENAHEM ZTS"L…MENDELSSOHNS LEBEN VON ISAK EICHEL. [STANDS ON ITS OWN; VOL I, PART II OF ZEMIROT ISRAEL. SEMIROTH JISRAEL: SAMMLUNG DER KLASSISCHEN WERKE NEUHEBRÄISCHER POETEN UND PROSAIKER]

Lemberg: In Kommision bei J. Millikowski, 1860. Item #41834

1st edition. Original printed wrappers, 16mo (small), 208 pages. In Hebrew with German-Heberw title pages as front cover. Biography and some writings of Moses Mendelssohn (Moses of Dessau; 1729–1786) philosopher of the German Enlightenment in the pre-Kantian period, early Maskil, and a renowned Jewish figure in the 18th century. Born in Dessau, son of a Torah scribe, Mendelssohn received a traditional Jewish education under the influence of David Fraenkel, who was then rabbi of Dessau. When the latter was appointed rabbi of Berlin in 1743, Mendelssohn followed him there in order to pursue his religious studies and to acquire a general education. He earned his livelihood with difficulty while simultaneously studying Talmud diligently and acquiring a broad education in literature and philosophy. In addition to his fluent knowledge of German and Hebrew, he acquired knowledge of Latin, Greek, English, French, and Italian. His teachers were young, broadly educated Jews, such as the Galician immigrant Israel M. Zamosc, who taught him medieval Jewish philosophy, the medical student Abraham Kisch, who taught him Latin, and the well-born Berlin Jew, A.S. Gumpertz, who taught him French and English and in general served as a model of a pious Jew immersed in the larger intellectual world. During this period he met the writer and dramatist G.E. Lessing (1754) and a deep and lifelong friendship developed between them. In 1750 he became a teacher in the house of Isaac Bernhard, owner of a silk factory; in 1754, he was entrusted with the bookkeeping of the factory and eventually he became a partner in the enterprise. Throughout his life he worked as a merchant, while carrying out his literary activities and widespread correspondence in his free time. Only in 1763 was he granted the "right of residence" in Berlin by the king. In 1762, he married Fromet Guggenheim of Hamburg, and they had six children. In 1754 Mendelssohn began to publish – at first with the assistance of Lessing – philosophical writings and later also literary reviews. He also started a few literary projects (for example, the short-lived periodical Kohelet Musar) in order to enrich and change Jewish culture and took part in the early Haskalah. In 1763, he was awarded the first prize of the Prussian Royal Academy of Sciences for his work Abhandlung über die Evidenz in metaphysischen Wissenschaften ("Treatise on Evidence in Metaphysical Knowledge"). However, when the academy elected him as a member in 1771, King Frederick II refused to ratify its decision. In 1769, he became embroiled in a dispute on the Jewish religion, and from then on, he confined most of his literary activity to the sphere of Judaism. His most notable and enduring works in this area included the translation into German and commentary on the Pentateuch, Sefer Netivot ha-Shalom ("Book of the Paths of Peace," 1780–83) and his Jerusalem: oder, Ueber religiöse Macht und Judenthum ("Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism," 1783), the first polemical defense of Judaism in the German language and one of the pioneering works of modern Jewish philosophy. An active intermediary on behalf of his own people in difficult times and a participant in their struggle for equal rights, he was at the same time a forceful defender of the Enlightenment against the opposition to it which gained strength toward the end of his life. In the midst of a literary battle against one of the leading figures of the counter-Enlightenment, he died in 1786 (EJ 2007; JE 1905). Zeitlin, p. 424. Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000109459. SUBJECT(S): Jews -- Germany -- Biography. Rabbis Philosophers. OCLC: 492895808. OCLC lists 4 copies (Staatsbib. Berlin, LBI, HUC, Hebrew Col.), though, strangely, our edition ends on page 208 (final page!) rather than the 224 as the OCLC copies indicate. Uncut copy, some wear & darkening to wrappers, paper remains bright white and nice. About Very Good- Condition. Nice copy of this scarce work. (KH-10-9).

Price: $375.00