Full tooled Leather , large 12mo. 144 pages. 18 cm. Hebrew text, parallel English translation. "Stereotyped by Slote and Mooney for the editor. " Singerman 1282. Sidur Sifte Tsadikim, Leeser's comprehensive Sephardic prayer book, was the first American prayerbook containing the liturgy for the entire year. It contains the original Hebrew text and an English translation. Starting with the 2nd Revised edition of 1853, Leeser changed to this smaller, 12mo, "more portable form...As to correctness, I pledge my word that the text and translation shall be far in advance of any which have hitherto appeared" (adv. In the Occident, Dec. 1851, cited in Goldman) . In the preface to the 1853 edition, Leeser noted the he had changed the translations of Bible passages to conform to the Bible translation he was completing elsewhere. This work thus contains the original Hebrew text and an English translation. Leeser marketed his prayer book both to audiences in American and the British colonies in the Caribbean, and he thus included prayers on behalf of a Monarch and a Republican government. Reprinted a number of times throughout the 19th & 20th Centuries, it became the standard prayer book for Sephardic Jews in North America. Leeser founded the first Jewish Publication Society of America and "brought many important works to the attention of the American Jewish community. He published the first Hebrew primer for children (1838) , the first complete English translation of the Sephardi prayer book (1848) [sic 1837-8], and numerous textbooks for children. He founded the first Hebrew high school (1849) , the first Jewish representative and defense organization in 1859 (the Board of Delegates of American Israelites) , Maimonides College, and the first American Jewish rabbinical school in 1867. His major literary achievement was the first American translation of the Bible, ...published in 1845. This became the standard American Jewish translation of the Bible until the new Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917....Leeser was a traditionalist who did much to stem the tide of Reform. Although he was identified with the Sephardi community his influence affected the entire community and he laid the foundations for many of the key institutions of present-day Jewish life. His contributions to every area of Jewish culture and religion made him a major builder of American Judaism. " (Jack Reimer, EJ) Contents of complete set: v. 1. Daily prayers [here missing]. --v. 2. New-year service. --v. 3. Day of atonement service [in 2 parts]. --v. 4. Tabernacle service. --v. 5. Passover and Pentecost service. --v. 6. Fast day service. SUBJECT(S) : Judaism -- Liturgy -- Texts. Jews. Liturgy and ritual. OCLC lists 2 institutions with holdings of 1856-1864 printings (Harvard & Penn). Changes between printings of the 2nd and 3rd editions were minimal, and size was the same. Goldman 36: "in the introduction, Leeser attempted to demonstrate why his text and translation were superior to the one published by his competitor, David Aaron de Sola, a London hazzan....Leeser ordered new Hebrew types from abroad for this work and had to teach Hebrew to the typesetters, Benjamin George Smith...and Jacob Washington Fletcher.... We located no other sets of any edition of this work having come up for auction in the last decade. Light wear to leather, chip to bottom of spine, otherwise Very Good. (AMRN-14-22)
