Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
"Megilat Starim" - On Moses Montefiore - Ephraim Deinard - Printed in 50 Copies on Gold-Colored Paper - New York, 1928
Opening: $3,000
Sold for: $6,250
Including buyer's premium
Megilat Starim… [Book of Secrets on the Works of Moses Montefiore, the Good and the Bad], by Ephraim Deinard. New York: Oriom Press, 1928.
A book about Moses Montefiore and his nephew-inheritor Joseph Sebag-Montefiore and Deinard's claims pertaining to them. Printed in fifty copies only, "To be kept in libraries for remembrance and not for the popular readership…", on thick sheets, one side of which is of a special texture and gold-colored.
In the beginning of the book Deinard declares that he wishes to tell how "he [Montefiore] was made the idol of the miserable innocents". Later Deinard writes that in fact Montefiore achieved nothing by his lobbying, that he was a miser and hard-hearted and that he closed his ears to the true needs of the poor of Palestine. In addition he claims that Sebag-Montefiore unjustly held in his possession property bought with the money of Judah Touro for Jerusalem's poor. At the end of the book are facsimile plates of a letter sent by Jerusalem's rabbis to Sebag-Montefiore. Deinard's claims are intertwined with his aggressive claims against Hassidism, Christianity and socialism, and he tends to accuse all of his enemies (including Montefiore) that they are tainted by all three.
Ephraim Deinard (1846-1930) - bibliographer and Hebrew author, book collector and trader; one of the greatest Hebrew bibliographers of the modern era. Deinard was a historian and polemicist, considered a colorful and fascinating figure. He was born in the town of Sasmaka (currently Valdemārpils, Latvia). From a young age he embarked on numerous journeys around the world, studying different Jewish communities and collecting Hebrew books and manuscripts. In the 1880s he was the owner of a bookstore in Odessa. In 1888 he immigrated to the U.S., where he engaged in book trading; among other things, he attempted to found an agricultural Jewish settlement in Nevada. After this attempt failed, he immigrated to Palestine in 1913, settling in Ramla. There he also promoted the founding of an agricultural Jewish settlement, but in 1916 he was expelled by the Turks, forcing him to return to the United States.
24 columns, [2] plates, 36 cm. Good overall condition. Top edges of sheets uncut (only one sheet is cut). Library stamps. Pencil inscription. Some wear and rubbing to the sheets' folding lines. Cloth binding, restored on its inner side and slightly unraveled. Stains to binding. Bookplate.
A book about Moses Montefiore and his nephew-inheritor Joseph Sebag-Montefiore and Deinard's claims pertaining to them. Printed in fifty copies only, "To be kept in libraries for remembrance and not for the popular readership…", on thick sheets, one side of which is of a special texture and gold-colored.
In the beginning of the book Deinard declares that he wishes to tell how "he [Montefiore] was made the idol of the miserable innocents". Later Deinard writes that in fact Montefiore achieved nothing by his lobbying, that he was a miser and hard-hearted and that he closed his ears to the true needs of the poor of Palestine. In addition he claims that Sebag-Montefiore unjustly held in his possession property bought with the money of Judah Touro for Jerusalem's poor. At the end of the book are facsimile plates of a letter sent by Jerusalem's rabbis to Sebag-Montefiore. Deinard's claims are intertwined with his aggressive claims against Hassidism, Christianity and socialism, and he tends to accuse all of his enemies (including Montefiore) that they are tainted by all three.
Ephraim Deinard (1846-1930) - bibliographer and Hebrew author, book collector and trader; one of the greatest Hebrew bibliographers of the modern era. Deinard was a historian and polemicist, considered a colorful and fascinating figure. He was born in the town of Sasmaka (currently Valdemārpils, Latvia). From a young age he embarked on numerous journeys around the world, studying different Jewish communities and collecting Hebrew books and manuscripts. In the 1880s he was the owner of a bookstore in Odessa. In 1888 he immigrated to the U.S., where he engaged in book trading; among other things, he attempted to found an agricultural Jewish settlement in Nevada. After this attempt failed, he immigrated to Palestine in 1913, settling in Ramla. There he also promoted the founding of an agricultural Jewish settlement, but in 1916 he was expelled by the Turks, forcing him to return to the United States.
24 columns, [2] plates, 36 cm. Good overall condition. Top edges of sheets uncut (only one sheet is cut). Library stamps. Pencil inscription. Some wear and rubbing to the sheets' folding lines. Cloth binding, restored on its inner side and slightly unraveled. Stains to binding. Bookplate.