THE SONG OF SONGS. BEING LOVE LYRICS FROM ANCIENT PALESTINE by (GRABHORN PRESS). BIBLE IN ENGLISH - 1922

San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1922. No. 127 OF 310 COPIES. 204 x 130 mm. (8 x 5"). [19] leaves.Translated and with commentary by Morris Jastrow. Preface by Helen Jastrow; introduction by Franz Cumont.
Publisher's stiff vellum, flat spine with gilt titling. With woodcut vignette by Harold von Schmidt and initials by Joseph Sinel. Printed in red and black. Heller & Magee 45. Two small (naturally occurring?) discolorations to vellum, but a pristine copy internally, in an unworn binding.

Honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts as one of the 50 finest books produced in 1922, this volume contains a new translation of the Canticle and an accessible scholarly commentary, packaged in a very pleasing private press book. With considerable persuasiveness, Morris Jastrow has burrowed through centuries of religious interpretation to reveal the "Song of Songs" in its original state: a collection of secular folk lyrics from various sources, compiled in the third century B.C., widely popular at the time, and not at all allegorical. Jastrow (1861-1921) studied to be a rabbi, like his father, before becoming a professor and librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as president of the American Oriental Society and of the Society of Biblical Literature..