Julian Myers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 13, against his parent’s wishes. He served with distinction, rising to lieutenant before the Civil War. After a 30-month tour in the China Seas, he was arrested on board the steam sloop of war USS Hartford under Admiral Farragut, in Philadelphia, on December 4, 1861 due to his Confederate sympathies. He used this album to gather signatures from his fellow prisoners at Fort Warren at the mouth of Boston Harbor. While some of the inscriptions are simple autographs, many of the prisoners have added a note explaining their positions and how they came to be imprisoned. 

“I...do appoint and proclaim January 27, 1916, as a day upon which the people of the United States may make such contributions … for the aid of the stricken Jewish people.”

With this proclamation, President Woodrow Wilson responds to a Senate resolution calling for contributions to the American Red Cross to benefit the millions of “stricken Jewish people” in nations involved in World War I. The “Jewish Relief Day” campaign raised $2 million. Just over a year later, the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allies.

“I came to recognize that your service as Foreign Minister was not for the good of the country, although I did not cease to value your talents and dedication....”

“As I was deprived of the possibility of taking part in the meetings of the Executive, I ask to be allowed to appoint a member to be the head of Defence … paragraph ‘C’ should be changed, by way of adding a demand for an immediate agreement that a temporary Government be formulated…”

“...the evil fate which seems to overtake our few good friends in the service of the Palestine Government makes me feel a greater bitterness than I can well express… You will have to consider whether you are prepared to face a good deal of unpleasantness in Palestine, or whether you would prefer to try to get transferred to some other service in a country where my friendship, and the friendship of the Jewish residents generally, will not count against you!”

“The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order by post commanders.”

—Grant’s General Orders No. 11, in the New York Herald, Jan. 5, 1863

This Collection of eleven original historic newspapers starts as soon as Grant’s infamous order reached New York on January 4^th, 1863. (It was common for news sent to Washington D.C. to reach New York, the main telegraph communications hub, first.) That same day, a delegation of Jews that had arrived from Paducah Kentucky to protest the order went to Ohio Congressman John Gurley, who took them to the White House. Lincoln, while dealing with prosecuting the war and watching for reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation—which he had just issued on January first—received them right away.

Lincoln immediately directed General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck to have Grant revoke the order. Early on January 5^th, Halleck telegraphed Grant that “a paper purporting to be General Orders, No. 11, issued by you December 17, has been presented here. By its terms, it expells all Jews from your department. If such an order has been issued, it will be immediately revoked.” Grant rescinded his order on January 6, 1863.

Publication of the order, its revocation, and resolutions in the Senate and House (both legitimately objecting, and also using the order as an excuse to attack Grant and Lincoln), are included in the collection.

“The continuance of the compromise is dependent, first and foremost, on the degree of tolerance that people who hold opposing outlooks can show through a mutual love of Israel.”

Dedicatory inscription on verso of title page (partly cropped by binder), handwritten in Hebrew by Imber: “To my wise friend, the linguist... of the periodical HaZvi in Jerusalem. [...] The renowned wordsmith from the ranks of the Jewish sages [...], Ben-Yehuda. This booklet is a memento from the author.”

Inked stamps on title page and on several additional pages (Hebrew): “House of Reading and [Home of] the Book Collection, Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and reestablished” / “Beit Sefarim Livnei Yisrael... Yerusahalayim…” [House of Books for the Children of Israel in the Holy City of Jerusalem]. The library known as “Beit Sefarim Livnei Yisrael” was established in Jerusalem by a group of scholars led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in 1884 (upon its closing in 1894, its book collection was transferred to the Midrash Abarbanel Library, which eventually evolved into the National Library of Israel.)

In 1886, prior to the publication Barkai, Imber published the following advertisement in Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's Hebrew-language newspaper, HaZvi (2nd year, Issue No. 36): “There is a book with me among my writings [to] which I have given the title ‘Barkai’ [...] Any printer who wishes to purchase it from me in order to publish it should contact me...” An editor’s note follows the advertisement: “We have seen these poems which have been written by Mr. Imber, and [regard them] in keeping with the principle to which we adhere, ‘Look upon the vessel and relate not to its creator' [in a play on words on the chorus of the well-known liturgical poem for the Day of Atonement, ‘Ki Hineh KaHomer’]. It is incumbent upon us to state that the spirit of lofty poetry hovers over them; their thoughts are pleasant and desirable. The language in them is pristine and clear, and the ideas are exceptional. Many of these poems are worthy of becoming national songs. In general, these poems are faithful national songs, writings of a distinguished poet.”

VI, [2], 127, [1] pp., 15.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, mostly to first and last leaves. Tears, some open and some long, to title page and to several other leaves, mostly restored with paper or mended with adhesive tape. Handwritten notations to some pages. New binding and endpapers.

The President of the Third French Republic tells an unknown friend about a disturbing letter that he just received from right wing journalist and newspaper editor Urbain Gohier, in which Gohier had accused him, the sitting president, of colluding with Jewish and foreign elements.

“To the Mapai regime: ‘Neither farewell nor see you again.’”

“…Will you help?”

Elaborate receipt for Newport, Rhode Island sale of land from estate of Benjamin Seixas (1747-1817) signed by numerous members of his family and members of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Congregation who were heirs to the property, known now as the Buliod-Perry House at 29 Touro Street, to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the great naval hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

“Scientific successes in the 20^th century made for an unprecedented upsurge of the creative force of human genius… Yet, at the same time, they unleashed unheard-of forces of annihilation, of subjugation of many by man, of destruction of the environment. …”

“The idea of perestroika was to free society from totalitarianism, arbitrariness, coercion and violence, to give people freedom, while at the same time bringing about a change in international relations.”

“You understand that the Yiddish edition of the World arose from the need to reach those social strata that were not reached by the German World. It was absolutely necessary to create a periodical which would in a reliable and faithful manner report on Zionist events and the Zionist requirements.”

Though his newspaper Die Welt linked together supporters across three continents. Herzl recognized that, for his vision of a Jewish homeland to become a reality, Western and Eastern Jews would need to join forces, as would the literati and the Yiddish-speaking man-in-the-street. This letter supports Di Velt, the short-lived Yiddish edition launched in 1900, one of Herzl’s attempts to bridge class, cultural and linguistic gaps.

A unique and important artifact of his childhood.