Volume of issues of the Haskalah journal, HaMe’asef , with all [12] issues from תקמ”ח [1787-1788]. Special title page for the complete annual volume, and introductions. Königsberg and Berlin, 1788. Bound at the end of the volume: Die frühe Beerdigung [on Jewish burial rites, by Marcus Hertz.] Berlin, 1787.
This journal served the maskilim of Germany during the period in which Reform was at its literary peak. It printed important articles on various topics: Biographic articles on Moses Mendelsohn – progenitor of Reform, Menasheh Ben Israel and others; hymns and poems; studies of texts and historic treatises; commentary and current events; philosophy and more. The contributors included: Joel Brill, Isaac Euchel, David Friedländer, Naphtali Herz Weisel, Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim and others. The final issue (Elul), includes a letter in Yiddish printed from Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, author of Noda BiYehudah .
Double leaf printed at the beginning of the book: ” Moda’ah Rabbah L’Kahal Adat Bnei Yisrael ” announcing the republication of Sefer Meturgeman by Rabbi Eliyahu Bachur with an approbation by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Berlin and his beit din . This leaf was printed in a smaller format than the rest of the book, and it may be bibliographically unknown. (It does not appear in the copy scanned at Goethe University; the same text was also printed in the Kislev issue as an integral part of the content. This specific sheet was printed on its own; to the best of our examination, this plan did not materialize and the book was not printed.)
[14] leaf, [1] 392 pp, [17] leaf; 35 pp. 18 cm. Leaf 214 features a special picture of a diver.
Moderate-fine condition. Several worming perforation along the length of the book. Aging stains. Light creases and dog-ears. Old binding, slightly worn.