Auction 94 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
"Dos Kind: Zayne Entviklung, Ertsihung un Krankheyten. Far eltern un nerses" ["The Child: Its Rearing, Development and Ailments. A book for parents and nurses"], by Dr. William Moses Feldman. London: E.W. Rabbinowicz, 1907. Yiddish. Additional title page in English.
Comprehensive Yiddish-language handbook for parents and caregiving nurses, with various photographs, diagrams, and illustrations. It gives detailed instructions regarding proper nutrition and hygiene for the child, in addition to guidelines on proper breastfeeding, children’s illnesses, health of the pregnant mother, medical care and medical treatment, caregiving, medications, and more. The book begins with the author’s introduction, expert reviewers’ opinions, a table of contents and list of illustrations. At the other end it has an additional title page, table of contents, list of illustrations, and expert reviewers’ opinions, all in English.
A wave of pogroms that swept across the lands of the Russian Empire drove roughly 300,000 Jews to flee these regions and immigrate to England. The vast majority of the immigrants originated from Yiddish-speaking communities, and few of them had much of a familiarity with the English language. In addition, information regarding medical issues was inadequate and outdated in their lands of origin. The present handbook was intended to introduce these Yiddish-speaking immigrants to the most current medical knowledge available at the time in their native tongue.
The book’s author, Dr. Moses William Feldman (1880-1939), was a specialist in pediatric medicine. Born into a rabbinical family from Pinsk (today in Belarus), Feldman immigrated to England with his family at the age of eight. He studied at the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS), and completed his specialist residence at the Royal London Hospital. In 1907, at the time of the publication of this book, he was employed as a surgeon under the auspices of a charitable organization – the Royal Maternity Charity – while at the same time serving as a lecturer on the subjects of maternity and children’s diseases on behalf of the London County Council (LCC). In 1923, he was accepted for membership in the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Published various books, articles, and handbooks on the subject of child development and children’s health. The present handbook was the first of his books to be published.
Rare. Never offered for public auction.
XX, 154, [6] pages. Approx. 18 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor blemishes. Two first leaves partly detached. Handwritten dedication on front flyleaf. Binding not original; blemished and worn.
"Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager, " by Viktor Emil Frankl. Vienna: Verlag für Jugend und Volk, 1946. First Edition. German.
The present book, also known as "Man’s Search for Meaning", was written by the Jewish-Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, and philosopher Viktor Emil Frankl. It is considered to be one of the most influential books of philosophy of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the earliest works to have offered a first-hand account of life in the concentration and death camps.
First edition. A copy in its original cover, bearing an illustration of the barbed-wire fences and a shattered pair of spectacles on the ground (cover designed by Leo Friedrich), not mentioning the name of the author, and with the book’s original title, "Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager" ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"), without the prefix "Trotzdem Ja zum Leben Sagen" ("Nevertheless Say Yes to Life") that only appeared from the second edition onward (later, the book’s English translations would be given the full, official title, "Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy").
The work was the result of nine continuous days of writing undertaken immediately after Victor Frankl’s liberation from the Dachau concentration camp (he had previously spent time in both Theresienstadt and Auschwitz). It presented, for the first time ever, an approach to psychotherapy known as "logotherapy" – a form of therapy promoting attempts to search for meaning in life – which Frankl had developed during his period of incarceration in the camps.
The first part of the book is devoted to a description of life in the camps, relating the experience and feelings of Jewish camp inmates, beginning first with the shock they felt the moment they were packed into cattle cars on trains, and from there to the "selection" process at the camp gates, to the daily routine in the camps, to the hunger, the dulling of the senses, the agony, and the physical degeneration of the inmates. Frankl continues by depicting the relations with the SS guards, and the hierarchy that existed between the "appointed" camp inmates – the kapos and others – and the "regular" inmates. He speaks of the spiritual energies that developed in the camps in spite of the grim reality and the inhuman conditions, of the humor that helped fortify the inmates’ resolve, and of the hopes for a better future and an end to the war.
In the second part of the book, Frankl lays down the foundations of his new methodology in the field of psychotherapy, which he terms "logotherapy" (from the Greek words "logos" and "therapeia, " together meaning "therapy through meaning"). This existentialist-psychological approach focuses on the human being’s aspiration to seek meaning (in contrast to the Freudian approach, which emphasizes the aspiration to seek pleasure and avoid suffering, or to Alfred Adler’s approach, which centers around the human desire to seek power and social status). In Frankl’s system, the search for meaning and significance in the human experience gives the human being the necessary strength to cope with pain and suffering in a reality devoid of religious faith and tradition, and enhances one’s ability to survive even under seemingly unbearable conditions, such as those that characterized life in the camps. In Frankl’s words, even in Auschwitz, a prisoner observing a beautiful sunset might remark: "How beautiful the world could be."
Once published, millions of copies of the book were sold; it was translated into dozens of languages, and quickly became one of the best-known symbols of post-Holocaust humanism.
Rare book. Only a handful of copies of this edition have survived. Not in NLI.
130 pages. 20 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes and abrasions to cover.
Letter handwritten and personally signed by Sigmund Freud, addressed to Yehuda Dvir, the earliest translator of his works into Hebrew. Vienna, December 15, 1930. German.
The letter is written on official stationery, indicating Sigmund Freud’s address in Vienna, Berggasse no. 19, where he resided for 47 years, from 1891 to 1938. It is addressed to the Jerusalemite educator and author Yehuda Dvir (Dvosis; 1896-1971), whose translations of Freud’s writings – the very first translations into Hebrew of Freud’s works – had just recently been published.
In his letter, Freud writes about the attitude toward Judaism and the Hebrew language that prevailed in his boyhood home thanks to the influence of his father, Jacob Freud, and how his identification with Judaism was later strengthened as he recalled the anti-Semitism he had experienced many years earlier in his student years at the University of Vienna, where he began his studies in the fall of 1873: "I derive great satisfaction and gratification from the publication of some of my works in Hebrew. My father’s fluency in the holy tongue was equal to, or possibly even greater than, his fluency in German. As for me, he allowed me to grow up without knowing anything about Judaism. Only once I reached maturity did I begin bearing a grudge against him for this. But even earlier, I felt myself a Jew, thanks to the pervasiveness of German anti-Semitism which reared its head over and over during my studies at the university."
Further on in the letter, Freud reveals his warm feelings toward Zionism and mentions his concerns regarding its fate – concerns which only intensified in the wake of the violent riots that broke out in Palestine in 1929, a year earlier: "I was inspired with a deep feeling of sympathy toward Zionism, and I remain loyal to it to this day. Right from the beginning, it appeared to me that it was linked to these exact concerns which, given the present circumstances, now seem entirely justified. I would love to be proven wrong. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the efforts you have invested, and I send you my heartfelt greetings. Yours, Sigmund Freud" (based on the Hebrew translation of the German, from: "Sigmund Freud, Letters, " translation by Eran Rolnik, Moshav Ben Shemen: Modan, 2019).
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), founding father of the field of psychoanalysis, one of the greatest and most influential intellectual figures of the 20th century. Freud published a series of groundbreaking works in psychology, including "Totem and Taboo", "The Interpretation of Dreams", "Moses and Monotheism", and numerous other works whose impact on Western thought regarding the human psyche was nothing short of revolutionary. Sigmund Freud passed away following a prolonged battle with cancer in September 1939.
[1] leaf, official stationery, 28.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines and creases. Minor stains and wear. Slight tears to edges.
Letter handwritten and personally signed by Sigmund Freud, addressed to Yehuda Dvir, the earliest translator of his works into Hebrew. London, December 11, 1938. German.
The present letter was written just a few months after Sigmund Freud and his family had departed Vienna to flee the Nazis. It is written on official stationery, indicating Freud’s new residential address in London, no. 20 Maresfield Gardens.
The letter is addressed to the educator and author Yehuda Dvir (Dvosis; 1896-1971), the first person to translate Freud’s works into Hebrew. At the beginning of the letter, Freud relates to the upcoming publication of the Hebrew edition of his book "Totem and Taboo": "…I received the printed copy, but regretfully I do not speak Hebrew… As to your question regarding the meaning of the mysterious statement which appears there, my response is that it represents a question: In what form did our common tradition as Jews come to be preserved in our psychic beings; a difficult question, and entirely theoretical."
Further on in the letter, Freud writes about his last great work, "Moses and Monotheism" – which he eventually published at the at the age of 82, during his time in exile in London in 1939 – in which he took issue with the fundamental assumptions of the Jewish faith, expressed his thoughts regarding the origins of anti-Semitism and Jewish tradition, and proposed a historical conception of Moses as a figure, who, in his view, should be regarded as the scion of an aristocratic Egyptian family. Freud writes as follows: "My next book, ‘Moses and Monotheism, ’ is scheduled to be published at the beginning of the year in English and German. I will obviously derive great satisfaction if it were also to be translated into Hebrew. This book represents a sequel to the subject addressed in ‘Totem and Taboo, ’ insofar as the same [concepts] are applied to the history of the Jewish faith. Nevertheless, I beg you to take into account that the content of this book is surely bound to offend Jewish sensibilities as long as they remain unwilling to accept the authority of science. In gratitude, my heartfelt greetings – Yours, Sigmund Freud" (based on the Hebrew translation of the German, from: "Sigmund Freud, Letters, " translation by Eran Rolnik, Moshav Ben Shemen: Modan, 2019).
[1] leaf, official stationery, 28.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Creases and minor wear. Slight tears to edges.