LOT Cohasco, Inc.  /  Nine Centuries Of Historical Documents  / 

1501

Emma Lazarus refers to her landmark work in which she became the first well-known American to public

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:11,000.00 USD Estimated At:22,000.00 - 32,000.00 USD
Emma Lazarus refers to her landmark work in which she became the first well-known American to public
Significant, evidently unrecorded A.L.S. of the poetess, whose words "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..." are immortalized on the base of the Statue of Liberty. 18 West 10th St., (N.Y.), "May 22" (no year, but 1883-87), 2 pp., 4 1/4 x 7. To Mr. (Philip) Cowen (co-founder and editor of influential weekly, The American Hebrew), who shared her struggle to grasp the evil in the world, and create bridges between Christians and Jews. In sapphire blue, on eggshell-cream lettersheet. "Do you think any good might be effected by re-publishing in pamphlet form my 'Epistle to the Hebrews?' I have been looking it over, & think if it were put together & perhaps partially revised, it might arouse true thinking interest. Please let me know what you think of it, & believe me, Very truly yours...." In old pencil on verso, "OK," presumed by the recipient. Light uniform toning, else excellent.

In 1883, the same year in which Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" to help fund the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, she completed publication of "An Epistle to the Hebrews," a suite of fourteen weekly essays in Cowen's newspaper. Outlining her vision for Jewish centers in both America and Palestine, their republication sought in this letter did not take place until 1900 - thirteen years after her untimely passing - when they would be issued in book form by the Federation of American Zionists.

It is possible that Lazarus' desire to revise and republish the essays was triggered when "her crisis came in the 1880s, when news broke of anti-Semitic violence in Russia. Lazarus responded strongly. In 1882, as 2,000 Russian Jewish refugees were arriving in New York monthly, she worked for the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society and became, 'her Princeton biographer Esther] Schor writes, 'the first well-known American publicly to make the case for a Jewish state' in Palestine."--The New York Times book review, Dec. 31, 2006. Lazarus was further distressed by an anti-Semitic article appearing in the New York Sun c. 1883; one of her letters to Cowen (now in an institutional collection) took great umbrage at the article's coarseness, and how she was "perfectly conscious that this contempt and hatred underlies the general tone of the community towards us..."--Jewish Women's Archive, jwa.org.

In all events, Prof. Schor has noted that "Theodor Herzl was still sitting in cafes and dreaming of Zion - and the word 'Zionist' had not yet even been coined - when Lazarus took up the cause in the early 1880s. Schor writes that it was in 'Epistle to the Hebrews,' a column in The American Hebrew in 1882'-83], that 'Emma Lazarus became the first well-known American publicly to make the case for a Jewish state' (quoted in New Jersey Jewish News, Nov. 2, 2006). Lazarus suggested that 'assimilated American Jews should recognize their privileged status as well as their vulnerability in America, that all Jews should understand their history, in order not to be misled by anti-Semitic generalizations, and that Eastern European Jews should emigrate to Palestine'" (Hyman & Moore, 1997)--Unattributed description at abebooks.com.

Both Cowen and Lazarus shared all-consuming passion for improving living conditions in New York City, for understanding the influence of America on the Jews, Jewish assimilation, countering anti-Semitism, Zionism, and more. They both wrestled with the heady problems of immigrants' education, labor, culture, education, and interdenominational relations. Born on the Lower East Side, the young Cowen cultivated a group of fellow young writers (they would not divulge their ages to readers until the newspaper had reached the 33rd anniversary of its publication!). Rising to the vanguard of New York Jews and advocacy for immigrants, he authored Prejudice Against the Jews and other works. In 1905 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt appointed Cowen Immigration Inspector on the Board of Special Inquiry; the following year, Roosevelt "commissioned him to travel to Russia to examine the conditions that spurred large mass migrations to the United States and to investigate reports of pogroms. Cowen reported that the Russian government was responsible for the pogroms, by encouraging officers through promotions and other benefits to partake in such massacres..."--Guide to the Papers of Philip Cowen, American Jewish Historical Society. His Papers contain not a single letter of Emma Lazarus (though her sister Josephine is represented). The only Cowen correspondence in the Emma Lazarus Papers is a transcript in his hand of an unremarkable 1884 letter from her (but evidently not the letter itself).

Lazarus was not only the most prominent American Jewish writer of her generation, but she was "an impassioned supporter of her people, of the downtrodden of all nations, and of her country and its literary accomplishments"--American Women Writers. Her death brought forth a procession of tributes from notables, lamenting the loss to American literature, Jewry, and the world of women. Lazarus autographic material in any form is seldom seen on the market, and is one of the most elusive nineteenth-century American autographs, in part due to her death at the age of just 38. * With 1935 newspaper clipping, "Miss Liberty Greeted Fifty Years Ago Today": "...The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of American freedom, and because of its setting, where mighty and small ships of all nations pass in perpetual review, is one of the most widely-known memorials in the world...." * Copy of biography Emma Lazarus, by Prof. Esther Schor. Clean ex-lib. * Also with inventory card believed of old-time N.Y. autograph dealer Ben Bloomfield, c. 1960. Comparables are scant. Even Charles Hamilton's venerable 1961 classic observed, "Not many autographs are so desirable as that of Emma Lazarus...Her autograph is extremely rare." Off the market for some 55 years. ,000 (4 pcs.)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot