THE TALMUD

Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1897. Hardcover. 12mo. 97 pages. Louis Finkelstein's copy with his ownership signiture and "dec. 3, 1915" penned on the front endpaper. Preceeding his name he has written "21." Finkelstein (1895-1991) was awarded a doctorate from Columbia in 1918, became a rabbi in 1919, and, after many years as professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary he was appointed Chancellor in 1951. He authored a number of books, including Tradition in the Making, Beliefs and Practices of Judaism, Pre-Maccabean Documents in the Passover Haggadah, Abot of Rabbi Nathan, (a three volume series on The Pharisees), and Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr. He also edited a three volume series entitled The Jews: Their History (vol 1), Their Religion and Culture (vol 2), Their Role in Civilization (vol 3)." [Wikipedia, 2007] He was "the dominant leader of Conservative Judaism in the 20th century." Finkelstein would have been a 20-year-old student at the time of this inscription, possibly book nr 21 in his own private graduate student library. Darmesteter was a French philologist who taught at the Sorbonne; his essay "Le Talmud" was written in 1866 and published in 1890 in Reliques Scientifiques. The translation was done at a time when Henrietta Szold, a Baltimore philanthropist and ardent Zionist, was working as secrtary at the JPS. She later became one of the founders of Hadassah and its first president, as well as an executive of the World Zionist Organization, and a director of Youth Aliyah, an organization which took Jewish adolescents out of Nazi Germany and trained them in Palestine. Singerman 5147. Very good condition. Lacks half of backstrip (spine covering), otherwise Good Condition. (AMR-19-20.