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lievers in the theory of the Jewish origin of the American Indians, the massacres in the East, and descriptions of Palestine, and expeditions to the River Jordan; the constitutions and by-laws of early congregations and educational societies; and all the details that the able historian can transform, as if by magic, into a vivid picture of the times.

A word must be said as to the scheme of the present work. The titles are given in full with the format and the number of pages of each volume. For the assistance of scholars who may be desirous of consulting and examining the books in question, the location of copies in public and private libraries is given. This, however, I know to be far from complete, as it was impossible to collate the volumes in every library in this country and in Europe, although no efforts have been spared to make it as accurate as possible.

An attempt has also been made to give the first use of Hebrew type in each locality. For instance, the first book printed in the American Colonies, The Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, Stephen Daye, 1640, contained Hebrew type; and it is of curious interest that among the first books printed in New York-Keith's New England Spirit of Persecution, 1693, and Keith's Truth Advanced, 1694-both issued from the press of William Bradford, contain Hebrew type. They are Numbers 3 and 4 of the present bibliography, and facsimiles are given of pages showing the earliest use in New York of Hebrew characters. The first Hebrew alphabet published in Philadelphia is contained in Jacob Taylor's Compleat Ephemeris, printed by Samuel Keimer in 1726 (see No. 24).

It gives me great pleasure to express my most cordial thanks to the many scholars, librarians, and owners of private collections who have helped me in this work. First of all, to Dr. Cyrus Adler, at the time of the inception of the work, President of the American Jewish Historical Society, who frequently discussed with me the necessity of such a publication, and who has ever since been of invaluable assistance to me. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation of

the help derived from the greatest of bibliographers, and the gentlest of men, Dr. Wilberforce Eames, who has been my mentor and my guide, and without whose aid this work would never have appeared.

I am also under the greatest obligations to my friend, Professor Alexander Marx, Librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, from whose fount of bibliographical lore I have unhesitatingly drawn. To Mr. Clarence S. Brigham, Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, I am most profoundly indebted, as well as to Dr. Joshua Bloch, Chief of the Jewish Division of the New York Public Library; also to Dr. Joseph Reider, Librarian of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Philadelphia; Mr. A. S. Oko, the Librarian of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati; Dr. George Watson Cole, and Mr. Leslie E. Bliss, Librarian of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Gabriel, California; Mr. Bunford Samuel, Librarian of the Ridgway Branch of the Library Company of Philadelphia; Dr. Randolph G. Adams, Librarian of the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth, of the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, R. I.; Dr. Thomas Lynch Montgomery, Librarian, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Mr. John Ashhurst, Librarian, Free Library of Philadelphia; Dr. George Parker Winship, of the Harvard College Library; Dr. Charles F. D. Belden, Director of the Boston Public Library; Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress; and to Charles Evans, Esq., the author of the invaluable American Bibliography.

It is most gratifying to express my deep appreciation of the assistance derived from owners of two fine collections of American Judaica: Lee M. Friedman, Esq., of Boston, and the Rev. George Alexander Kohut, of New York, both members of the Executive Council of the Society, from whom I secured titles inaccessible elsewhere. Mr. Kohut was gathering the material for a similar bibliography which he generously placed at my disposal. I have also drawn from the

private collections of Mr. Charles J. Cohen, of Philadelphia, Mr. August Kohn, of Columbia, S. C. and Mr. E. D. Coleman, of Brooklyn, N. Y. I am also indebted to my old and valued friend, Mr. Lathrop C. Harper, of New York, who has supplied me with a description of many rare volumes, and to Mr. Charles F. Heartman, of Metuchen, N. J., from whom I secured some unique titles.

It gives me pleasure at this time to express my obligations to Max J. Kohler, Esq., one of the Vice-Presidents, to the Curator of the Society, Leon Huhner, Esq., of New York, to Mrs. Leon Solis-Cohen, its clerk, and to Samuel Oppenheim, Esq., the Recording Secretary. I am indebted particularly to Albert M. Friedenberg, Esq., the able Corresponding Secretary and Chairman of the Publication Committee of the Society, who has read the proofs and made most valuable suggestions in the course of the work, which has covered a period of over eight years. I want to thank also most warmly Mr. Percy E. Lawler, to whose care was entrusted the work of preparing the facsimiles. To the enthusiastic efforts of. Miss E. M. Sowerby are due the addition of numerous titles, and the final preparation of all the material for the press, including the index. Miss Sowerby spent over a year collating the volumes and doing research work in various American libraries, and I cannot speak too highly of her disinterested endeavors.

It is a pity that this bibliography only goes as far as the year 1850 when the Far West was beckoning to the East, when California was opening its golden doors, and when the rumors of Secession were just beginning. The second half of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century would prove perhaps a more interesting subject for our readers, and it is to be hoped that new hands will take up the work where I have left off.

PHILADELPHIA, PA., July 22, 1926.

A. S. W. ROSENBACH.

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