Zywot, skon i nauka Jakoba Jozefa Franka [The Life, Death and Teachingd of Jakob Joseph Frank], by Hipolit Skimborowicz. Warsaw: Drukarnia Józefa Ungra [Josef Unger], 1866. Polish.
An early work reviewing the life and teachings of false Messiah Jacob Frank. Written by the Polish journalist Hipolit Skimborowicz (1815-1880), presumably by commission of the Frankist Wacław Szymanowski. Includes a list of sources – letters, documents, Sabbatean books, and more - used by Szymanowski.
Frontispiece illustration depicting Frank on his deathbed.
Jacob Frank (1726-1791) was the founder of the Frankist sect that had developed out of the Sabbatean movement. Frank declared himself Messiah and developed a mass following. In "Redemption through Sin", Gershom Scholem wrote that Frank "will always be remembered as one of the most frightening phenomena in the whole of Jewish History: a religious leader who, whether for purely self-interested motives or otherwise, was in all his actions a truly corrupt and degenerate individual".
[2], 83 pp. + [1] plate, 18 cm. Good-fair condition. Closed and open tears to edges of some leaves (not affecting text), Several small wormholes. Creases and minor stains. Signature on title page. Marked words on two pages. Non-original, fabric-covered binding, worn and slightly blemished.
opening price: $400