MA'AMARIM. VOLUME 4

Jerusalem : Keren Smolenskin, 1926. Hardcover. (FT) 8vo. 263 pages. In Hebrew. Volume four (of four) only. Born into poverty in Russia, Smolenskin (1840 or 42-1885) was a writer and editor, and an early Jewish nationalist. In He founded and edited the monthly Ha-Shahar from 1868 until his death. Beginning in his yeshiva days, he was a proponent of Haskalah; interest in secular topics and Russian literature at first caused him no small amount of trouble. His first novel, Simhat Hanef, was written in the late 1860s. After travels through Europe, Ha-Shahar was founded in Vienna, and it proved to be the most effective mouthpiece of the Haskalah movement there, as well as a platform for early Jewish Nationalist thought. "From the outset Smolenskin conceived the journal as an instrument to make the Jewish people increasingly aware of its terrible plight and strengthen its internal resources, fostering at the same time the spread of a genuine enlightenment and a broad culture. Above all, the journal epitomized Smolenskin's passionate loyalty to the Hebrew language and Hebrew literature, which he regarded as the real foundations of Jewish nationalism and a substitute for national territory as long as the nation lacked a state. " (Patterson, EJ) Boards tanned and lightly edgeworn, good+ condition. (HebLit-2-33).