DIE LEGENDE DES BAAL=SCHEM

Frankfurt am Main: Rütten und Loening, 1908. German Limited Edition: 1 of 2,000 copies printed by Imberg & Lefson. Limp cloth. As New/None. E. R. Weiss, engraved letters. 8vo, brown buckram over limp boards with gold lettering on spine and front cover which also has the image of a golden bowl with four balls and yapped [folded] fore-edges, gilded decorative endpapers with repeating cover bowl-&-balls motifs, illuminated title, chapter heads, and initials engraved by E. R. Weiss; top edges gilded [t.e.g.] plus rough-cut fore-edges, brown ribbon page marker, 257, [258-259]. TEXT IN GERMAN: NOT ENGLISH. Martin Buber (Hebrew: ; 1878 - 1965) was an Austrian-Jewish and Israeli philosopher well known for his philosophy of dialogue (I & Thou), a form of Existentialism, and his studies of Hasidism. Buber deals here with Hasidism, the 18th century mystical-religious movement founded in Eastern Europe by Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (c.1698-1760), a Jewish mystic and healer called the Baal-Shem (the Master of God's Name; aka the Baal Shem Tov or "Besht," an acronym). In Poland, the Baal-Shem withstood severe rejection by the rabbinical establishment yet attracted numerous followers from the common people, poor, and mystically inclined. Buber offers a sensitive account of Hasidism and twenty stories about the life of the Baal-Shem. This book is often considered the most delightful of Buber's seven volumes on Hasidism, and an introduction to his major theme about the I-Thou, or dialogical relationship. The German edition of The Legend of the Baal Shem first appeared as Buber's third book in 1908 published by . The English edition was copyrighted in 1905. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature ten times, and Nobel Peace Prize seven times. SUPERB overall condition: As New! A very handsome copy with beautiful printing and overall production, lovely illuminations, bright gilding, and handsome gilded wallpaper endpapers with a Jewish sacred bowl motif.