The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth CenturyWiener, Leo
History
The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century
Wiener, Leo
Yiddish literature -- History and criticism
From Liverpool, my place of landing, I proceeded at once to Oxford,
where I familiarized myself with the superb Oppenheim collection of
Judeo-German books of the older period, stored in the Bodleian Library;
it does not contain, however, anything bearing on the nineteenth
century. In London the British Museum furnished me with a few modern
works which are now difficult to procure, especially the periodical
_Kolmewasser_ and _Warschauer Jüdische Zeitung_. Unfortunately my time
was limited, and I was unable to make thorough bibliographical notes
from these rare publications; besides, I then hoped to be able to
discover sets of them in Russia. In this I was disappointed--hence the
meagreness of my references to them. The Rosenthaliana in Amsterdam and
the Imperial Library in Berlin added nothing material to my information.
Warsaw was my first objective point as regards facts and books. The
latter I obtained in large numbers by rummaging the bookstores of
Scheinfinkel and Morgenstern. In a dark and damp cellar, in which
Morgenstern kept part of his store, many rare books were picked up. In
Warsaw I received many valuable data from Perez, Dienesohn, Spektor,
Freid, Levinsohn, both as to the activity which they themselves have
developed and as to what they knew of some of their _confrères_. In
Bialystok I called on the venerable poet, Gottlober; he is very advanced
in years, being above ninety, is blind, and no longer in possession of
his mental faculties, but his daughter gave me some interesting
information about her father. Wilna presented nothing noteworthy, except
that in a store a few early prints were found.
In St. Petersburg I had hoped to spend usefully a week investigating the
rich collections of Judeo-German in the Asiatic Museum and the Imperial
Library. The museum was, however, closed for the summer, and the
restrictions placed on the investigator in the library made it
impossible to inspect even one-tenth of the three or four thousand books
contained there. When about to abandon that part of my work the
assistant librarian, Professor Harkavy, under whose charge the
collection is, most generously presented me with one thousand volumes
out of his own private library. In Kiev I had a long conference with S.
Rabinowitsch and with A. Schulmann; the latter informed me that he is
now at work on a history of Judeo-German literature previous to the
nineteenth century; the specimen of his work which he published a few
years ago in the _Jüdische Volksbibliothēk_ gives hope that it will
entirely supersede the feeble productions of M. Grünbaum. In Odessa I
learned many important facts from conversations with S. J. Abramowitsch,
J. J. Linetzki, J. J. Lerner, P. Samostschin, and depleted the
bookstores, especially that of Rivkin, of their rarer books. Jassy in
Roumania and Lemberg in Galicia offered little of interest, but in
Cracow Faust's bookstore furnished some needed data by its excellent
choice of modern works.
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