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Bidding Information
Lot #    19740
Auction End Date    1/8/2008 12:27:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Esther
Title (Hebrew)    àñúø, àãòø, ãéà áòìàäðèò èåâòðã
Author    [Purim Drama] Joseph Herz
City    Fuerth
Publisher    S. B. Gusdorfer
Publication Date    1854
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    Second edition, first revised and enlarged. [4], 128 pp., octavo, 146:107 mm., nice margins, light age staining, plate. A very good copy bound in contemporary marbled paper over boards, lacking spine.
          
Detailed
Description		    Drama in western Yiddish recounting the biblical story of Queen Esther as recounted in the book of Esther by the playwright Joseph Herz (1776-1828). The author was a German Jewish humorist who wrote the play in 1828. This edition is expanded from previous printings, including at the end a detailed appendix not present in the first edition. The title page is followed by a table of contents, an introduction from Herz, a list of roles, and the play. Herz.s Esther has been the subject of a modern analysis, entitled, “The Language of Herz's Esther: A Study in Judeo-German Dialectology” by Robert M. Copeland with Nathan Susskind (1979). Esther is a clever spoof that is as much about the German Jews of his time as about the characters of the Book of Esther. An example of the first 10 lines of Herz's Purim play, spoken in rhymed verse by Harbona, King Ahasuerus's servant who, sent to fetch Queen Vashti to the king's banquet, reports her refusal to appear, states, in the original and in English translation, Schin fott is di Aruroh: Di hot doch g'hat a Zuroh// Wi ahn oisg'schnittner Karpes. Was taitsch, wi hot mer nit mehr Tharbus? Wen der Mahn saagt: kumme! Darf di Frah nit brumme.Der Melech schikt doi nebich in besten Si soll a bisle naket kumme, un die Gesten Lost'n saagen: wen ich mag. Is gewihs g'stekt in Mazzoh-Taag? A free prose translation of Harbona's lines might be: "That damned woman has gotten away! What a face she had, like a jack-o'-lantern! How come we don't have better manners? When a husband says, 'Come,' a wife shouldn't grumble. The king, poor fellow, sends for her in the best way, [telling her] to come slightly naked, and that charity case tells him, '[I'll do it] when I please.' Does she think she's busy making matzo dough?"
          
Reference
Description		    BE alef 2447a
        
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
Other:    Drama
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Judeo-German
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica