Idyls of the Gass.
Wolfenstein, Martha. Idyls of the Gass. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1901.
12mo; hinges splitting; lower tips rubbed; spine ends lightly worn and cloth a little buckled; olive green wove cloth stamped in dark olive and gold-gilt front and spine; about very good.
First edition. Martha Wolfenstein (1869-1905), short story writer, was born in Prussia and immigrated to the United States with her parents as an infant. Her father, Samuel Wolfenstein, was the first Reform rabbi ordained in Europe. The family first settled in St. Louis and then Cleveland, Ohio. Martha attended the Cleveland public schools; but, at the age of 16, her mother’s death necessitated her assuming responsibility for the family household. She began to write short stories which made their way into the pages of mainstream publications such as Lippincott’s and Outlook —“the first Jewish American woman to publish stories with Jewish characters and settings in secular general readership magazines” (Women’s Writing). The 15 stories collected in Idyls Of The Gass (The Alley) grew out of her father’s memories of his childhood in a Moravian ghetto. Many of the stories, peopled by characters from the same community, follow the trials of a single protagonist Shimmelè: “Shimmelè and Muhmè Maryam,” “How Shimmelè Became a Sceptic,” “Shimmelè Chooses a Profession,” “Why Shimmelè Never Played,” and “Shimmelè Prays.” Unfortunately, the writer, like her mother, suffered from tuberculosis; she published only two books in her lifetime; a play she desperately wanted to complete as her health gave way appears to have been lost. Uncommon.
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