Bidspirit auction | HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL. (“Ben Usiel”).

HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL. (“Ben Usiel”). Igroth Tzaphun. Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum [“Nineteen Letters About Judaism.”] FIRST EDITION. German interspersed with Hebrew. From the library of the late Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool, with his signature (dated 1906) and his bookplate. pp. viii, 111, (1 blank), (2). Foxed, some pencil markings along margins. Later boards. 8vo. Altona, Johann Friedrich Hammerich, 1836. RABBI SAMSON RAPHAEL HIRSCH'S ELEGANT DEFENSE OF TRADITIONAL JUDAISM.      Written in the form of an exchange of letters between two thoughtful young men: Benjamin, an idealist impressed by society’s rapid progress in the arts and sciences, and Naphtali, a young Rabbi. “The Nineteen Letters” was immensely popular for its lucid presentation of Judaism before a rationalist audience.  See E. Klugman, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1996) pp. 59-67.