Collection of books written or published by the bookseller and bibliographer Ephraim Deinard. Europe and the United States, late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hebrew. 1. "Toldot Even Reshef." Warsaw: Yitzhak Goldmann, 1875. 2. "Masa Krim" [Travels in Cremea]. Warsaw: Yitzhak Goldmann, 1878. 3. "Milhemet Krim" [The Crimean War]. Warsaw: Alexander Ginz, 1879. 4. "Masa Bi-Hatzi Ha-I Krim…" [Travels in the Crimean Peninsula… In Two Parts"]. Warsaw: Alexander Ginz, 1879-80. 5. "Se'u Ness Ziona…" ["(…) Relating to Numerous Issues in the History of Colonization in the Holy Land"]. Pressburg (today Bratislava): David Löwy and Abraham David Alkalay, 5646 [1886]. 6. "Milhamah leHashem be-Amalek…" ["The Lord will have war with Amalek, General Prohibition from All the Great Jewish Sages of All Lands against (purchasing) ‘etrogim' (citrons) from the Greek Islands in General and Corfu in Particular"]. Published by Ephraim Deinard, Newark, New Jersey, 5652 [1892]. 7. "Divrei HaYamim LeZion BeRussia…" ["Chronicles of Zion in Russia…"], in two parts (no additional parts published). Published by Ephraim Deinard, Kearny, New Jersey, 5664 [1904]. A lamentation over the passing of Theodor Herzl appears at the beginning of the second part. 8. "Zamir Aritzim HaRishon." Published by Ephraim Deinard, Kearny, New Jersey, 5664 [1904]. 9-10. "Megillah Afah…" […Polemic on behalf of Jewry against Our Contemporary Rabbis and Hassidim], by Rabbi Isaac Dov Baer Levinsohn; introduction by Ephraim Deinard. Published by Ephraim Deinard, Kearny, New Jersey, "Year [1]835 since the Destruction of Jerusalem" [i.e., Hebrew Year 5664 = 1904 CE]. Two copies with different bindings. 11. "Meha'at Sofrim" [lit. "Protest of the Authors"], a polemic against allegedly assimilationist Jewish leaders. St. Louis: Moinester Printing Co., 5678 [1918]. 12. "Zion Be'ad Mi?..." ["Zion for Who (sic)? For Bolsheviki (sic) or Jews?"]. Arlington, New Jersey: 5678 [1918]. 13. "Aruhat Bat-Ami…" ["… Preparations for the Rabbinical Congress on the Issue of Establishing a Sanhedrin in Zion." St. Louis: Moinester Printing Co., [1920]. 14. "Zikhronot Bat Ami…" ["Memoirs of My Nation, of the Story of Jews and Judaism in Russia over a period of almost 70 years, not as told by books and authors, but (rather) according to what I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears"]. Part Two. New Orleans, 5680 [1920]. Size and condition vary. Ephraim Deinard (1846-1930) was a Hebrew bibliographer – one of the greatest of the Modern Era – as well as an author, book collector, and bookseller. An accomplished historian and outspoken polemicist, he was widely regarded as a colorful, highly controversial figure. Deinard was born in Sassmacken (or Sasmaka; today Valdemārpils), Latvia. When still young, he began traveling throughout the world, and while doing so, studied many different Jewish communities, painstakingly collecting Hebrew books and manuscripts. In the 1880s, he managed a major bookstore in Odessa. Deinard immigrated to the United States in 1888, where he established a small printing house in which some of his own works were published. His rich collections provided a foundation and model for Hebrew book sections in some of the major libraries in America, and catalogues of his book collections served as an important basis for the study of Hebrew literature and Jewish culture. Deinard himself authored dozens of books; a fair number of these publications were, in addition to being serious academic works, essentially platforms for arguing his rather distinctive worldview. Having established a reputation as a particularly provocative author, predictably, many of his books aroused harsh criticism. Enclosed: four printed pages – advertisement announcing the upcoming publication of his book "Masa Krim": a Table of Contents; an appeal for support in the publication of the book; and more. These pages were possibly torn out of another book.

VeHaya He-Akov LeMishor [And the Rugged shall be made Level], by S.Y. Agnon. Jaffa: Yosef Haim Brenner, A. Itin Press, 5672 [1912]. Hebrew. S.Y. (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon's first book, published in Palestine. The story was written in the Neve Zedek neighborhood of Jaffa in late 1911 over a four-day period. It had been originally published, in segments, in the paper "HaPo'el HaTza'ir". In a Hebrew article entitled "The Life and Death of Yosef Hayim Brenner, " Agnon writes about Brenner's efforts to fund the publication of "VeHaya He-Akov LeMishor": "Finally, once he had finished printing the story, he realized he had miscalculated, and was short some four or five francs. And he had no desire to borrow again […] At the time I had finished my business in Jaffa… and had moved on to Jerusalem… I laid down my personal belongings in my room, and went to Brenner […] once we had eaten and drunk, he stood up and said ‘Let me show you around Jerusalem…' We walked for a while and spoke for a while, until he stopped and entered one of the shops next to Jaffa Gate and said, ‘Come with me.' I followed him in. He laid an item down in front of the shopkeeper and said ‘Forgive me sir, but I need to have those two bishliks back.' The shopkeeper shook his head and said ‘Some people never change' and returned his money. Why was it said ‘I need to have those two bishliks back, ' and why was it said ‘Some people never change'? Brenner would tighten his pants with a leather belt, and when the belt wore out, he eventually gave in and bought himself a pair of suspenders like your average person would do. But now that he was in need of four or five francs in order to publish a Hebrew book, he returned the suspenders to the shopkeeper, and went back to tightening his pants with that old, worn-out belt. I beg of you, who do you know who would neglect his own needs for the sake of someone else's book?" [2] ff., 3-64 pp. Missing: [1] f. (errata) and original printed wrappers. Bound in card boards. 15 cm. Good condition. Stains, mostly on title page and last leaf. A few tears. Open tear to last leaf, with loss of text. Minor blemishes to binding.