HaMagid - "telling Ya'akov (the Jewish people) news from all parts of the world among all nations whatever is pleasant and worthy for every Jew to know - for his benefit and for the benefit of the lovely Hebrew language", edited by Eliezer Lipman Silberman. Lyck, 1856-1860.
Two volumes. • First volume: first year, issues no. 1-54. Second year, issues no. 1-50. • Second volume: Third year, issues no. 1-49. Fourth year, issues no. 1-50. Accompanied by an additional volume of second year issues, with 50 issues.
"HaMagid" was the first weekly paper in the history of Hebrew press. The first issue was published in June 1856, just before the holiday of Shavu'ot, in the town of Lyck, in East Prussia (present day Ełk in north-east Poland). When it was first published the words "newspaper" or "weekly" in Hebrew have not yet been invented and the journal was defined as "Letter of history". The aim of the weekly was to publish news from around the world and from the Jewish world, but it also included poems and scientific articles as well as various viewpoints and opinions. Leading Jewish authors and intellectuals of the nineteenth century wrote for the paper. At its peak 1,800 copies were distributed, but the copies were handed over from one reader to the next so that the final number of readers is unknown. To reach a wider public, the paper avoided radical viewpoints and hence its moderate nature. The paper supported the resettling of the Land of Israel and the Zionist Movement.
Three volumes, 35 cm. Condition varies. Ex-library copies.