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Verse by Abraham Dov Mikhailishker Lebensohn (Adam ha-Kohen). There is a Hebrew half title page with the verse, “A Psalm Song for the sons of Korah. His foundation is in the holy mountains” (Psalms 87:1), and Latin and Hebrew title pages. The latter describes Shirei Sefat Kodesh (Poems in the Holy Tongue as the second, corrected, and expanded edition); it was originally published in two parts (1842, 1856), and dedicated to “The Queen of Languages—Hebrew.” There is a preface from Lebensohn to the second edition. The text is in a single column in vocalized Hebrew, excepting pages 23-29 in which the text is in two columns. There in an index, errata, and an afterward from Lebensohn. The original front cover is bound in with a presentation written in a fine hand on the verso. There front end page has owners’ stamps.
Abraham Dov Mikhailishker Lebensohn, (Adam ha-Kohen, 1794–1878), Hebrew poet and grammarian, known for his love of the language, and the spokesman of Russian Haskalah during its early period, openly proclaiming his allegiance to the “Berlin” Haskalah and particularly to Moses Mendelssohn. He received elementary and yeshivah education in his native Vilna where he became a successful broker. His earliest published writings were occasional poems for weddings or funerals of Vilna notables, honoring Jewish and gentile dignitaries. From 1849 to 1853 Lebensohn, together with Isaac Benjacob and Behak, published a second edition of the Biur, the commentary and translation of the Bible by Moses Mendelssohn and his disciples, and appended materials not published in the first edition, under the title Be'urim Hadashim (1858). Following the death of M. A. Guenzburg in 1846, Lebensohn became the leader of Vilna's maskilim, and, because of his eloquence, served as the main preacher at their synagogue, Tohorat ha-Kodesh. He published several scholarly works in these fields - for example, Shnei Luhot ha-Adut, conjugations to make one conversent with, able to analyze, and interpret everything in these tablets, that is, two aspects of the language - and was an active contributor to the Hebrew press. The main theme underlying his poetry is the conflict between optimism (enlightened rationalism), expressed in poems such as “Higgayon la-Erev,” La-Boker Rinnah, Ha-Aviv, and the harsh, cruel reality of life (six of his children and his beloved son-in-law died during his lifetime. The dirges written for his children, Hesped Mar and Mikhal Dimah, are intensely emotional despite the ornamental style of his day. |
