Catechism for Younger Children, Isaac Leeser, Philadelphia: Adam Waldie: 5599 (1839)

180 pages (7 1/8 x 4 1/2 in.; 182 x 115 mm). i-xii, 1-168 pp. Some browning at edges; very lightly stained. Shaken. Original green cloth; paper lettering piece; worn. 

Mrs. Augusta Cohen--Norfolk VA, her inscription in pencil on flyleaf

Singerman 0674; Rosenbach 446.

Isaac Leeser, a distinguished author, translator, editor, and a national leader of the American Jewish community, considered himself, first and foremost, an educator. When Leeser arrived in Philadelphia in 1829 to become the Hazzan for congregation Mikveh Israel, he was acutely aware of the dearth of elementary textbooks for English speaking Jewish children. In 1830 he published his own translation of J. Johlson's German language Instruction in the Mosaic Religion, adapted by Leeser for "the instruction of the younger ... Israelites of both sexes, who have previously acquired some knowledge of the fundamental part ... of their religion." Striving to improve the educational prospects of young American Jews, Leeser, in 1838 issued The Hebrew Reader and a year later, in 1839, the Catechism for Younger Children, both prepared in conjunction with the founding of the newly established Sunday School in Philadelphia. Of the CatechismLeeser would write:

If any event in my life can afford me some degree of satisfaction, it is the consciousness of having added one contribution ... to satisfy the demand for information in the ways of the law of God. And it will be to me a far greater gratification than any public applause, could I be convinced that the thoughts offered in this guide to the young Israelites has led a few as sincere worshippers to the house of our God.

The Catechism is dedicated to "Miss Rebecca Gratz, Superintendent of the Sunday-School for Religious Instruction of Israelites in Philadelphia," whom Leeser credited with the founding of the school.