Rabbi and Priest: A Story

Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. Very Good. 1936 (c.1891). Reprint. Hardcover. (brown cloth, no dust jacket) [moderately worn copy, light bumping at a couple of corners, a few very slightly scrunched lower page corners, gilt spine lettering rubbed but still readable; attractive custom vintage bookplate on front pastedown, previous owner's name/address on ffep]. Reprint of a novel first published in 1891, and, according to the author's original introduction, based on the story told to him by a Russian refugee named Joseph Kierson of "the terrible persecution which compelled such large numbers of his countrymen to flee from their once happy homes." The author acknowledges that his novel is based on Kierson's experiences, but disavows strict historical accuracy. Rather, he says, "in following the fortunes of Mendel Winenki, from boyhood to old age, [the book] endeavors to present a series of pictures portraying the character, life, and sufferings of the misunderstood and much-maligned Russian Jew." In addition, "in the description of Russia's customs and characteristics, the barbarous cruelty of her criminal code and the nihilistic tendencies of the times, the author has followed such eminent writers as Wallace, Foulke, Stepniak, Tolstoi and Herzberg-Fraenkel. The accounts of the riots of 1882 will be found to agree in historic details with the reports which were published at the time." .