Cincinnati & Chicago: From the American Hebrew Publishing House, the Bloch Publishing and Printing Company, 1880s? Item #43529

1880s? Preface is dated 1856. Original Full Leather binding with black & gilt spine label, 12mo, [2] leaves, iii-xii, 1243 pages. 17 cm. Title in Hebrew at head of title. Copyright page lists 1853, the copyright date for the first edition of Leeser’s original translation of the Twenty Four Books of the Holy Scriptures, published in 1854. The present Preface is dated Philadelphia, 1856. The 1880s date is based on Singerman 3204, which notes the presence of the "undated 'Advertisement to the London Edition.' Repeated...in undated Bloch editions (1243 p.) with acopyright date of 1853."

Preceding the 1856 Preface is the undated 4-page “Advertisement to the London Edition,” which notes that “This corrected version supplies an admitted want to our times. The so-called Authorized or Anglican version of the Scriptures…betrays great need for revision….Jews, who, of their own accord introduce the Anglican version into their households, and who provide none other for the schools, commit a flagrant breach of sacred trust, in the abandonment of those for whose safe guidance they are immediately responsible, to a helpless ignorance of truth–an ignorance all the more fatal, because false interpreataions are obtruded in season and out of season, with an unscrupulous object–to procure apostasy [i.e. conversion] from Judaism….Hence this version, accomplished by a learned and conscientious Hebraist [i.e. Leeser] has found acceptance from all denominations.

In the 10-page, 1856 Preface, Leeser explains in detail the need for his new translation, giving many examples from earlier Christian translations of what we would today call “Christian bias.” Leeser here acknowledges recent partial Jewish translations, noting,

“Hitherto–at least before the completion of the first edition of this work, two years ago–no other translation in the English had been completed by Jews, although several had been commenced; for instance, Dr. Raphall's and Mr. A. De Sola's and Mr Lindenthal's book of Genesis with Hebrew text and ample notes, and Dr. Benische's version with Hebrew text to the end of the Second Book of Kings…”

OCLC (233529725) locates 4 copies worldwide [U Illinois, Andrews U, Community of Christ (MO), UPenn] of an “1853” edition published in “Cincinnati ; Chicago : from the American Hebrew Pub. House, the Bloch Pub. and Print. Co.,” with 1243 pages and 17 cm high (ours is 16 cm). However, the OCLC listing notes neither the “Advertisement to the London Edition” nor Leeser’s Preface of 1856, both of whose pagination does not affect that of the main text.

Such was the enmity between Leeser and leaders of the Reform movement that it would seem surprising that Leeser would authorize a Bloch publication of his bible during his lifetime, given that Bloch was owned by Isaac M. Wise’ brother-in-law, Edward Bloch. Only a year after the date of the preface in our copy, Leeser, famously, printed an “anonymous attack on Wise signed ‘Lawyers’ in the pages of his Occident shortly after the appearance of Minhag Amerika in 1857. Leesers’ anti-Reform rejoinder singled out Bloch & Co. for allegedly keeping its store open on the Jewish Sabbath and closing it on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath.” (Singerman).
In our Bloch copy, the copyright is still held by Isaac Leeser; It was not until 1888, 20 years after Leeser’s death in 1868, that “his [Bloch’s] firm obtained the copyright of this popular and frequently reprinted landmark text.”

Neither Singerman nor Goldman list any edition published by Bloch before 1884. Singerman (Nr 1418) and Goldman (Nr 13) both list a similar edition (1856) published in Philadelphia by C. Sherman & Son, also with the 1856 Preface and identical pagination and physically smaller than the 1853 ed…with a new preface by Leeser.”
Goldman specifically writes that the “Advertisement to the London Edition,” does not appear until an 1865 edition is “published in London in 5625 [1865] by Trubner & Co. (printed by John Childs and Son).
Explaining the need for a new translation in the prefatory ‘advertisement,’ the publisher criticized the standard King James Version authorized by the English Church for being flawed with ‘abundant cases of false rendering’ and ‘propagandist tendencies.’ They thus chose to issue Leeser's translation, despite the existence of English translations by Christians, because "this version, accomplished by a learned and conscientious Hebraist, has found acceptance from all denominations.”

This may be a previously unrecorded stereotype reissue of Trubner’s London edition by Bloch, issued with the 1853 Copyright date, the 1856 Preface, and the undated Advertisement, though its mid-19th Century binding with black leather spine label would not be much later than 1880.

Some pencil underlining to Advertisement and Preface, with small owner’s stamps and pulling as well. Gutter margin at title page is thin and crowds the title page text (see photo). Spine reinforced with leather at edges, boards show wear, especially at corners, but a solid Good Condition copy. A rare Leeser variant. (B) (AMR-38-23).