Zionisten-Congress in Basel. (29. 30. Und 31. August 1897). Officielle Protocoll.
Rare Protocols of the First Zionist Congress
[Judaica]. [Herzl, Theodor]. Zionisten-Congress in Basel. (29.30 und 31. August 1897) Officielle Protocoll. Wien: Verlag des Vereines “Erez Israel”, 1898.
8vo.; pages browned; bound in modern blue morocco with marbled boards. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition of the complete protocols of the First Zionist Congress held in Basel on the last three days of August 1897. Following a format that would be adopted by all subsequent Congresses, the 200 page text prints reports on Jewish communities in the Diaspora (most notably Max Nordau’s well-known talks), lectures on Erex Israel and settlement activities, and debates on cultural questions. Speeches by the President, Herzl, and Nordau, as well as the following, are all reproduced, either in their original German or in translation, as noted, from another language:
Day 1: Karl Lippe (pp. 1-4), Herzl (pp. 4-9), Nordau (pp. 9-20), Salz (pp. 21-28), Jacob de Haas (pp. 28-38), Jacques Baha (pp. 39-41), Samuel Pineles (pp. 41-45), Alexander Mintz (pp. 46-56), Mayer Ebner (pp. 56-61), Dr. Schauer (p. 61), Gregor Belkovsky (pp. 61-78), Janos Ronay (pp. 78-80), Adam Rosenberg (pp. 80-81), Nathan Birnbaum (pp. 82-94), David Farbstein (pp. 94-108).
Day 2: The President, and moderated discussion (pp. 108-119), M. J. Bodenheimer (pp. 119-30), discussion (pp. 130-38), Jacob Bernstein-Kohan (pp. 139-46), M. Moses (pp. 147-50).
Day 3: Dr. Kaminka (pp. 170-75), Adam Rosenberg (pp. 175-80), Marcus Ehrenpreis (pp. 183-87), discussion (pp. 187-92).
The volume concludes with a petition; a register of organizational members arranged by nationality: Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Austria, Rumania, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, North America (with representatives haling from Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, and “St. Francisco”); and a register of named attendants.
The First Zionist Congress, according to Herzl (who would chair every Congress until his death in 1902), aimed “to close the Zionist ranks, bring about an understanding between all Zionists and to unify their endeavors…. The congress will show what Zionist is and wants.” Its impact was worldwide and transcended religious boundaries. Herzl wrote, “I would no longer need to write the history of yesterday [the day the Congress opened]: it is already written by others … Were I to sum up the Basle Congress in a word—which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly—it would be this: At Basle I founded the Jewish State.”
Legitimately rare: In 25 years of business, this is the first copy we have encountered in commerce.
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