The Book of Jasher by Samuel Moses. Sefer Hayashar, 1840 NY, 1st American edition.

The Book of Jasher by Samuel Moses. Sefer Hayashar, 1840 NY, 1st American edition.
The Book of Jasher by Samuel Moses Sefer Hayashar 1840 NY
Translated by Samuel Moses [1795-1860],
Sefer Hayashar or The Book of Jasher Refered to in Joshua and Second
Samuel, Faithfully Translated from the Original Hebrew into English.
M. M. Noah & A. S. Gould, New York, N.Y. 1840.,
24.5 x 15 cm., hard stamped calico cover
6 blank pages, 2 pages- certificates, III-XXIII, 267 pp.
Title page and pp. I-II are missing
Dedication on inner side of front cover from 1841
Ex-library cachet
Cover worn, rubbed to edges, corners bumped and chipped,
spine is almost missing but binding still tight.
Foxing stains throughout the book,
some pages foxed more some less, some minimal
Apparently the first U.S. edition. Preface by M. M. Noah. This is a translation of the rabbinic Book
of Yashar compiled from the Babylonian Talmud and other Jewish sources, and
intermixed with Arabic legends and passages of the Bible. Three fourths of the
book are devoted to the pre-Mosaic period, one fifth to the Mosaic period and
only three pages to later history. The original edition appeared in Naples in
1552. A Latin version by Johann G. Abicht appeared in Leipzig, 1732, with the
title: Dissertatio de libro recti. In 1750 the London printer Thomas Ilive
issued an English translation of the work asserting that he had published the
real “Book of Yashar” mentioned in the Bible. The present copy is
apparently the first U.S. edition. The work also has significance for
Rosicrucians and Masons. The book has approbations by
Isaac Nordheimer, H. V. Nathan, the rabbi of the synagogue in Kingston,
Jamaica, Samuel H. Turner and pr Geo.Bush NY.
Moses Samuel (1795-1860)
by Saul Marks
Moses Samuel was a watchmaker and Hebrew scholar, born in London in 1795.
His father, Emanuel (Menachem) Samuel (c.1755-c.1800), had emigrated from
Kempen, in the province of Posen, Poland, and settled in London c.1775. His
father having died, Moses and his mother, Hannah (Hinde; 1752-1822), moved to
Liverpool in 1805, where his elder brothers had already settled. He had very
little formal education but was an outstanding linguist and is said to have
mastered twelve languages, including Chinese! He established a business as a
watchmaker and silversmith in Liverpool, and married Harriet Israel (1793-1843)
in 1821. They had two daughters and three sons; the sons married three
daughters of Schreiner Wolfe of Great Yarmouth, who was the first mayor of
Kimberley in the northern Cape Colony, South Africa.
Samuel studied the philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn, whom he called “the
grand luminary of science and knowledge” and became the leading interpreter and
translator of Mendelssohn’s work in English. He published English editions of
Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem (1838) and the celebrated correspondence between
Mendelssohn and Lavater, published as part of the former’s memoirs.
Samuel also translated the Book of Jasher (1840) into English. This was falsely
alleged to be an ancient Hebrew text, but he still sold his translation for
?150 to be published in New York. Sadly, due to a disagreement with his
publisher over the authenticity of the Book, Samuel’s name does not appear on
it. Although his translation was accepted as accurate, many scholars criticised
the claims of the text.
Samuel fought hard against Christian proselytisation within the Jewish
community, publishing anti-missionary pamphlets in 1819, 1822 and 1827. He
campaigned for Jewish emancipation, and it was during a meeting about this in
1840 that he collapsed for the first time, probably due to a stroke. In 1845, a
second attack would leave him paralysed. Nevertheless, he persisted in his
literary work and earned a living as a language teacher in his later years.
Although Liberal in his politics, Samuel was strictly observant of orthodox
Judaism. He opposed the growth of the Reform movement, but he did accept some
innovations in synagogue ritual, such as sermons in English. In 1846-7, in
conjunction with the minister to the Liverpool Jewish community, DM Isaacs,
Samuel edited Kos Yeshuot (“Cup of Salvation”), which was a monthly magazine
“devoted to the advocacy of Orthodox Jewish principles”, in which many
contributions appeared in Hebrew with English translations. The magazine’s
publication of original articles in Hebrew on secular subjects was unusual for
the period, particularly in England, and a good example of these is one by
Samuel himself, celebrating the railway engine.
Unlike his brother Louis Samuel (1794-1859), Moses remained a poor man,
although he did compile a library of rare Hebrew books. He died at Ranelagh
Place, Mount Pleasant, on 17 April 1860, leaving an estate of under ?100. His
jewellery and watchmaking business had taken very much a back seat to his
linguistic and political work, and suffered badly in the process. However, by
the turn of the 20th century, his son, Walter Samuel (1829-63) and his wife
Harriet (1836-1908) transformed it into the first and most successful
multiple-shop jeweller’s in Britain: H Samuel (named after Harriet). Moses’
great-grandson, Gilbert Samuel Edgar, served as company chairman from 1935-78.
In a far cry from Moses’ orthodox Jewish roots, one of his descendants included
a Roman Catholic priest, Father Edward Hill, along with a Metropolitan Police
magistrate, Geoffrey George Raphael. His great-nephew was Herbert Louis Samuel,
the first Viscount Samuel.