Tevye's Daughters by Aleichem, Sholom [Rabinovich, Solomon Naumovich]; Butwin, Frances (Translator) - 1949

New York: Crown Publishers, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/fair. First printing, octavo size, 320 pp. The well-known muscial "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway in 1964, and "was the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances" - it held the record for the longest-running musical on Broadway for almost ten years, until surpassed by "Grease", winning nine Tony Awards.

The reasons for its success were many, we surmise in part due to the timeless themes that touch everyone's heart: a loving father worrying about his children; trying to come to grips with their independence as they reach adulthood; and the dreams of immigrants everywhere who long for a better life.

These are the stories upon which the play is based, the first printing, with the price of $3.00 on the dust jacket, no additional printings listed (which denotes a Crown first printing per Zempel), and no mention of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" on the dust jacket.

The author, Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (1859-1916) is known by his pen name "Sholom Aleichem", the traditional greeting in Hebrew. He began writing in both Hebrew and Russian, and by 1890 was well-known as an author of Yiddish literature. He and his family eventually came to America; when he died in 1916 "his funeral was one of the largest in New York City history, with an estimated 100,000 mourners" (n.b., above quotes and information from Wiki). With an Introduction by the translator, Frances Butwin, who authored "The Jews in America", published in 1969.

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full teal cloth, black lettering on the spine, with a four-page glossary at the rear of the Yiddish words used in the book; octavo size (8.5" by 5 5/8"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-xvii [xviii, blank] 1-302. The dust jacket shows the original price of $3.00 with a colour illustration on the front and spine of Tevye greeting his daughters outside their home, black lettering on the front and spine, publisher's ads on the back flap and rear panel, summary of the book on the front panel.

___CONDITION: The volume a bit better than very good, with clean boards, straight corners with minimal rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some sunning and slight wear to the head of the spine and dustiness to the fore-edge. The unclipped dust jacket is fair only; all the pieces are present but there is overall edgewear including several chips, the most noticeable at the head of the spine with some loss to the lettering of the author's name, overall light soiling and sunning to the spine; the front flap is totally detached, the rear panel almost detached from the spine; now in a protective mylar covering.

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