The Poems Of Emma Lazarus : In Two Volumes by Emma Lazarus; Josephine Lazarus - 1889

Cambridge : Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press, 1889. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. [America as a Beacon of Hope: The New Colossus. The first book printing of the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty] 2 volume set. 12mo. Bound in publisher's green cloth. Minor shelf wear. Includes a portrait or Emma and a Memoir of her life by her sister, Josephine Lazarus. Hebrew College of Baltimore stamps on v.1. <br> Contents: v. 1. Narrative, lyric, and dramatic. v. 2. Jewish poems: translations. <br> This collection of Lazarus's work includes her most famous poem, the New Colossus, v.1, 202 p. In 1883 Lazarus wrote this poem to raise money for the construction of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. After being forgotten, this poem is immortalized on a bronze plaque at the base in 1903. Lazarus was a New York-born Jew, whose family had descended from Portuguese Jewish exiles fleeing the Inquisition. During her life the harrowing experiences of Jewish refugees fleeing the pogroms in Russia and settling in New York inspired her advocacy for immigrants, social consciousness and inspired her poetry. The collection also includes powerful Zionist poetry: "The Crowing of the Red Cock", "The Banner of the Jew", "The Choice", "The New Ezekiel", "The Dance to Death", etc. <br> Provenance: Contemporary signature of Bertha Friedenwald, and Hebrew bookplate of Harry Friedenwald (of Baltimore). Volume 1 from the library of Doctor Harry Friedenwald (1864-1950) was a prominent Jewish Johns Hopkins' educated Professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore. He was a strong Zionist and a one of the most famous historians of Jewish medicine. Volume 2 inscribed to J.R. McGowan from McCleary, Boston, 1890. (Possibly Samuel McCleary (1822-1901) of the prominent Boston McCleary family.) <br> <br> 'Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"'