CONFIRMATIONSREDE: GEHALTEN IN SEINEM BARMIZWAFESTE, AM 3. MÄRZ, 1866 (16. ADAR 5626, SABBATH KI-TISSA)
Baltimore: W. Polmyer, 1866. Item #42515xt
1st edition. Original printed canary yellow paper wrappers over identical title page, 12mo, 7 pages, 19 cm. In German. Title translates as, “Confirmation speech: held at his Barmitzvah festival, March 3, 1866 (Adar 16, 5626, Sabbath Ki-tissa).” Singerman 1923.
David Appel’s father, “Simon Appel was born in Hungary in 1830 and died in Denver in 1912. He immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1848, becoming a successful tailor. Simon Appel married Hanna Greenwald in 1851. Their son David Edward Appel, born in Philadelphia in 1853, went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1871 and moved to Denver that same year.
David Appel had worked for his father to learn the tailoring trade and began ‘The Clothing House’ when he moved to Denver. Simonand his eldest son Jacob came to Denver in 1873 and joined the business. In 1874, the name changed to ‘S. Appel and Sons,’ also called the ‘Star Clothing House.’ In 1892, they built a building at 16th and Larimer, called the Appel Building, for their expanding business. Walter Michael Appel (David’s son) and Ira Rothgerber founded the oldest continuously operating legal partnership in Colorado, now one of the state's largest law firms. Family members were active members of Temple Emanuel. The [Appel Family and Clothing Store Papers] collection [at the University of Denver] contains Appel family histories and a folder on the Appel Clothing Company with advertisements and financial reports” (DU Archives).
An unusual preservation of a 13-year old American Jewish boy’s talk given at his 1866 Bar Mitzavah, all the more unusual because we have access to further information about the family–tailors–and their westward migration in the coming years.
The Baltimore-, instead of Philadelphia-, publication also seems unusual–why not print in Philadelphia where the Bar Mitzvah took place? It is possible that the Appel family had some close relationship with Baltimore’s most famous recent Jewish export to Philadelphia: Anti-Slavery activist and Reform leader Rabbi David Einhorn, who regularly used this printer, W. Polymer, for his publications in Baltimore.
SUBJECT(S): Bar mitzvah sermons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. Jewish sermons, German -- Sermons pour la bar mitsva -- Pennsylvanie -- Philadelphie. OCLC: 79034082. OCLC-Worldcat at Singerman together list 4 copies worldwide (AJHS, Yale, JTSA, and HUC). Spine rebacked, Very Good Condition. (AMR-67-47).
Price: $1,000.00