Bidspirit auction | (AMERICAN JUDAICA)

(AMERICAN JUDAICA) - Nathan the Wise. A Dramatic Poem of Five Acts by Lessing. Translated into English Prose by Dr. Isidor Kalisch.. First American edition. pp. (1), ix, 212, (1). Gutter split, title-page loose, slightly chipped along outer margin. Contemporary boards, 12mo. New York: Waldheimer & Zenn, 1869. First American edition of this fervent plea for religious tolerance.      Prussian-born Isidor Kalisch (1816-86) was a reform rabbi who came to America in 1849. In 1850, was called to the Tifereth Israel congregation of Cleveland, Ohio, where he labored in the interest of the radical-reform element of Judaism. In 1855, the first conference of Reform rabbis was held in Cleveland and a ritual and common prayer-book “Minhag America” was agreed upon, which Kalisch edited together with Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise.