VeHaya He-Akov LeMishor [And the Rugged shall be made Level], by S.Y. Agnon. Jaffa: Yosef Haim Brenner, A. Itin Press, 5672 [1912]. Hebrew. S.Y. (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon's first book, published in Palestine. The story was written in the Neve Zedek neighborhood of Jaffa in late 1911 over a four-day period. It had been originally published, in segments, in the paper "HaPo'el HaTza'ir". In a Hebrew article entitled "The Life and Death of Yosef Hayim Brenner, " Agnon writes about Brenner's efforts to fund the publication of "VeHaya He-Akov LeMishor": "Finally, once he had finished printing the story, he realized he had miscalculated, and was short some four or five francs. And he had no desire to borrow again […] At the time I had finished my business in Jaffa… and had moved on to Jerusalem… I laid down my personal belongings in my room, and went to Brenner […] once we had eaten and drunk, he stood up and said ‘Let me show you around Jerusalem…' We walked for a while and spoke for a while, until he stopped and entered one of the shops next to Jaffa Gate and said, ‘Come with me.' I followed him in. He laid an item down in front of the shopkeeper and said ‘Forgive me sir, but I need to have those two bishliks back.' The shopkeeper shook his head and said ‘Some people never change' and returned his money. Why was it said ‘I need to have those two bishliks back, ' and why was it said ‘Some people never change'? Brenner would tighten his pants with a leather belt, and when the belt wore out, he eventually gave in and bought himself a pair of suspenders like your average person would do. But now that he was in need of four or five francs in order to publish a Hebrew book, he returned the suspenders to the shopkeeper, and went back to tightening his pants with that old, worn-out belt. I beg of you, who do you know who would neglect his own needs for the sake of someone else's book?" [2] ff., 3-64 pp. Missing: [1] f. (errata) and original printed wrappers. Bound in card boards. 15 cm. Good condition. Stains, mostly on title page and last leaf. A few tears. Open tear to last leaf, with loss of text. Minor blemishes to binding.