Physical
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[4], 41, [3], pp., 218:135 mm., light age staining, wide margins, [2] pp. end paper have a table of the errors and changes in a fine hand. A very good copy bound in contemporary cloth boards. |
Detailed
Description |
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Verse from the Karaite writer Elijah ben Elia Kasas. There is a Hebrew title page and both a half title page and full title page in Cyrillic. The Hebrew title page states that it is an offering to his lord, the outstanding sage, Alexander Kasimbaig. The poems are in a single column in vocalized Hebrew. Most of the poems are translations into Hebrew from other sources. At the end is an index of the poems. The inside of the front and back cover have a library stamp and the front cover has, in green ink, an owner’s signature in Hebrew.
Elijah ben Elia Kasas (1832–1912) was a Karaite scholar, born in Armyansk, Crimea. Kazaz was director of the school for Karaite hazzanim in Yevpatoriya. He was sympathetic to the Enlightenment movement (see Haskalah) and published numerous poems in Hebrew periodicals. Besides the collections of poems appearing in Shirim Ahadim a second collection was printed, Yeled Sha’ashu'im (1910), these being among the few Karaite contributions to secular Hebrew literature. Later, influenced by the teachings advocated by Abraham Firkovich, he tried to sever all connection between the Karaites and the mainstream of Jewry. He asserted that the Karaites were not Semites, but a Tatar or Khazar tribe which had become converted to the Jewish faith. His works include a Hebrew textbook, Le-Regel ha-Yeladim (1869), intended for the Karaite youth speaking the Tatar language; Torat ha-Adam (1889), an adaptation of ElMments de morale by P. Janet (1870); Kivshono shel Olam (1889), after La religion naturelle by J. Simon (1856); Emet me-Erez (1908), a shortened version of F. Vigouroux's La Bible et les dMcouvertes modernes en Palestine... (1879); Cicero, Ziyyur Biografi (a biographical sketch; 1908). He also translated the Karaite prayer book entitled Ketoret Tamid into Russian (1905). The Russian authorities regarded him as the official Karaite representative. |
