Form of Service at the Dedication of the New Synagogue of the Kahal Kadosh Shearith Israel, Dov Pique, New York: J. Seymour, 1818

22 leaves (6 x 3 5/8 in.; 152 x 92 mm). Printed in unvocalized Hebrew with English translation on facing pages. Very lightly browned; original owner's note and signature on recto of second leaf. Early marbled wrappers. Modern brown morocco, gilt lettering on spine.

This copy was owned by E. S. Lazarus, grandfather of Emma Lazarus and one-time President of Congregation Shearith Israel. He is listed on the title page as a member of the Committee of Arrangement. He signed his name and the date of the dedication on f. [2r].

Vinograd New York 3; Singerman 0289; Rosenbach 187; Unknown to Goldman; Abraham Karp, The Hebrew Book in the New World: From Bibliography To History, Rosaline and Myer Feinstein Lecture Series, 2000, pp. 6-7.

This small liturgical text comprises the Psalms to be recited during the procession of the Torah Scrolls at the dedicatory service held to inaugurate the new worship space of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel.  This is the same service which occasioned the Discourse Delivered at the Consecration of the Synagogue of Shearith Israel in the City of New York by Mordecai M. Noah (see following lot). With the exception of the title pages, where Hebrew and English text appear on two sides of the same leaf, the Hebrew text in this volume appears with English translation on identically numbered, facing pages. The late Professor Abraham Karp, doyen of American Judaica bibliography, maintained that it was “the first Hebrew book composed and published in the United States.” There are two lengthy acrostic poems composed for the occasion by Rabbi Dov Pique. The first spells out the words Kahal Adat Yeshurun, a euphemistic reference to the congregation; the second poem—a mirror acrostic—identifies the author, first in regular order, then in reverse order: Ani Dov Pique. Rabbi Pique’s tenure at the congregation was extremely short-lived.  Brought from Bordeaux, France in 1817 to serve the congregation as the teacher of its religious school, Pique was profoundly respected for his Hebrew learning. Parents, however, proved unwilling to entrust their children to him because of his propensity for strong drink. The present volume remains as his only legacy.

It should also be noted that the latter poem contains the first printing of the name of an American chief executive in Hebrew transliteration. Somewhat surprisingly, Pique refers to the sitting President as “Jimmy Monroe,” making use of a colloquialism that, while clearly popular at the time, is almost virtually unrecorded in contemporary American sources. The Vice-President, Daniel Tompkins, was not however, given the nickname Danny.