302

ALEICHEM, SHALOM

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 2,500.00 USD
ALEICHEM, SHALOM
<b>302. SHALOM ALEICHEM</b> (1859 - 1916) Pseudonym of Solomon Rabinowitz, Yiddish author of numerous short stories most notably his stories of Tevye, the Russian Jewish milkman popularized in the musical and movie <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i>. Excessively rare, touching A.L.S. in Yiddish on letterhead of the Regina Hotel, 1p. 8vo., Locarno, Sept. 27, 1909, to Ben Amil, a popular Yiddish author and close confidant to Aleichem. He writes in part: <i>"...Again we are neighbors. I am here on my way to Italy. But it is still a little too early there, so I must stay here about a month. I...am not yet complete . . . Here, in Lugano, already a part of Italy. A kind of lower heaven. There isn't here, in Latin, `Zalbadrit'. Me, my mother, and Maya. The family is dispersed. They're all in the land of Poniye. Even little Tamara, her also. And also my wife. In my old age she made me lonely. She is right: What use is a sick Shalom Aleichem?...From the `grandfather' I received a dear and wonderful letter today. He writes that the Jews, from much love, almost choked...God is punishing me: I wish to be with Jews but am dwelling among non-Jews...Do you get the "New World" from Warsaw? Maybe you would be willing to intercede between the husband and wife and make peace between them...write a short letter to my wife that such a thing is not done, such is not right, such is not legal, such is not according to human behavior, such is not instinct...</i>". At the time of writing, Shalom Aleichem was suffering from tuberculosis. He also frequently engaged in reading tours to earn money, which separated him from his family for long periods of time. His wife Olga acted as a manager of sorts for Shalom Aleichem, bargaining for the rights to royalties. Apparently she reconciled with her husband, as they remained married until his death a few years later. Light scattered foxing, else very good condition.<b> $2,000-2,500</b>