OBJECTS.

The object of this Society is to collect and publish material bearing upon the history of America, and to promote the study of Jewish history in general, preferably so far as the same is related to American Jewish history or connected with the causes of emigration from various parts of the world to this continent. It is known that Jews in Spain and Portugal lent no inconsiderable aid to the voyages that led to the discovery of America, that a few accompanied the earliest discoverers and that Jews were among the first settlers on this continent, and in its adjacent islands. Considerable numbers saw service in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars, some of them with great distinction. Others contributed liberally to the Continental treasury, at critical periods, to aid in the establishment of Independence. Since the foundation of our government, Jews have played an active part in the political affairs of the country, and have been called upon to hold important public positions. The records of the achievements of these men will, when gathered together, prove of value and interest to the historian, and perchance cast light upon some obscure parts of the history of our country.

PREFACE.

This Bibliography was formally presented by the compiler at the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society held in Philadelphia in 1918, and is now issued pursuant to a vote of the Executive Council of the Society.

It was the original intention of the Society to issue it as a preliminary publication, in a limited edition, for private circulation only, in order to elicit additional titles, the location of copies, the correction of errors, and unnoticed bibliographical details and collations. It was to be sent out to librarians and scholars with a hope that it would be returned with additions and corrections. In the course of the last few years, through the great kindness and courtesy on the part of bibliographical students throughout the world, this list grew to such proportions that the Executive Council thought it advisable to publish the work in a more permanent form, and it is now issued with facsimiles of the title pages of the rarer volumes, and an index.

The compiler does not for a moment think that the work is at all complete, and he is fully aware that there are many titles yet to be listed. He would therefore, appreciate it if anyone interested in the subject would send him additional titles so that they may be included in a later issue of the Publications of the Society. However inadequate and inefficient this bibliography may be, and he does not pretend it to be otherwise than either, it is, he thinks, the only extensive list of its kind, and will at least form a nucleus for future study, and he sincerely trusts it will be of value to all students and lovers of Judaica, and to all those interested in the history of the Jews in the United States. A bibliography is after all only an aid and help-mate to scholars, and it is hoped that

this great mass of material will prove a stepping-stone and incentive to greater things.

In glancing through this list of books printed in the United States, relating to the Jews of this country from the establishment of the Press in the Colonies (1640) until the year 1850, one is struck by the wealth of material and the promising field for original research. The knowledge of Hebrew and the Bible possessed by the early divines of New England can be gleaned from the perusal of these pages and the names of Increase and Cotton Mather, their great opponent George Keith, Samuel Sewall, Samuel Willard, and Benjamin Colman, are of frequent occurrence. The story of the first Hebrew Grammar, the first Jewish Prayer Book, the first Hebrew Bible, the first Jewish Almanac, the first American editions of Josephus, the earliest Jewish newspapers, can be traced by a study of the titles contained in this bibliography.

The history of the teaching of the Hebrew language in America has never been written in a proper manner, and it would be well for some student, interested in the spread of Hebrew culture and learning, to pursue this attractive subject, using for his guide the books herein listed. The early grammarians and lexicographers, Judah Monis, Stephen Sewall, John Smith, Clement C. Moore, Moses Stuart, E. N. Carvalho, Edward Robinson (the translator of Gesenius), T. J. Conant, and many others, may be studied and the history of their work set forth for the first time. The careers of the two great preachers, Gershom Mendes Seixas and Isaac Leeser run like a thread through our text; where we can also trace the fascinating story of Jewish civic and religious life in the United States in the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century; the interest in the opening of the Ohio and Illinois country, and the participation of the Jews therein; the beginning of the Synagogues, the first Jewish Sunday Schools, the first charitable organizations, the land speculations, the genesis of the Reform Movement, the missionaries and the well-known converts, the early Jewish dramatists and authors, the controversial writers, be

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