Origins of the Rites and Worship of the Hebrews, New York: J. Bien, 1859; accompanied by: An Explication of an Engraving . . . New York: Office of the Jewish Messenger, 1859

1 engraved lithograph (39 1/2 x 26 in.; 1002 x 660 mm), on paper;  marginal tears expertly repaired; very lightly soiled, small stain, lower left margin. Accompanied by: 106 pages (7 1/4 x 4 3/4 in.; 184 x 122 mm), subscribers list attached at gutter to front free endpaper; lightly browned; dampstaining at upper corners; lightly stained. Brown buckram, black leather lettering piece on spine with title in gilt.

In 1851, Dr. D. Rosenberg of Paris published an illustrated lithograph based on a kabbalistic understanding of Judaism. Its complexity required the simultaneous publication of an explicatory text in French. Rosenberg’s work inspired Max Wollf, the recently retired Minister of Congregation Ohabei Shalom, in Boston, Massachusetts, to produce an English version.

From the balcony of a huge and ornate temple, a man contemplates “the terrestrial globe bursting forth from the midst of clouds and receiving luminous emanations from the Most High.”  Around him is an extravagant array of niches containing narrative scenes, friezes and frames enclosing blocks of text, rows of figures, Kabbalistic symbols and programs, zodiacal signs, and divine names.

The explicatory volume, running to more than 100 pages, includes original poetry and Wollf’s own commentary on the lithograph as well as a translation of Rosenberg’s text. Among the many subscribers to the work, were Jews and Gentiles: clergymen, educators, and even politicians, including the mayors of both Brooklyn and New York. The printer was Julius Bien, a respected lithographer who fled Germany for New York after having participated in the unsuccessful revolution of 1848. While receiving US Government contracts for engraving geological and geographical publications, he was also involved in Jewish communal life as director of both the Hebrew Technical Institute and Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York. The explicatory volume is also the first book-length work with original Hebrew poetry published in America.

LITERATURE:
Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America 1015; Karp, Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress , pp. 322-24.