Tract. Rosh Hashana of the New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud.

Tract. Rosh Hashana of the New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud.

FIRST EDITION. Edited, Formulated and Punctuated for the First Time by MICHAEL L. RODKINSON. Translated by J. Leonard Levy. Two parts with text in Hebrew and English. Two-page list of subscribers. Numerous approbations (“Opinions.”) Inscribed copy “from the Translator” (portion removed). Portraits of the Rodkinson and Levy. With Indian book-seller’s stamps: “Samuel S. Mazgawkar, Bombay.” Few marginal notes in a minute hand.

pp. (2), xxvi, 39, xxxii, 66. Ex-library, stained in places, endpapers removed. Contemporary boards, worn, gutter split. 8vo.

Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America no. 574; Singerman 4928.

Philadelphia, Charles Sessler, 1895.

    THE FIRST PUBLISHED TRANSLATION OF THE TALMUD INTO ENGLISH.

    
    See Yeshiva University Museum Catalogue, Printing the Talmud, From Bomberg to Schottenstein (2005) ‘The Talmud in Translation’ pp. 121-41: “The first attempt to translate the Talmud into English was undertaken by Rodkinson in 1896.”

    This sample of Rodkinson’s English translation of the Talmud predates the full edition. Rodkinson sent these samples to critics to solicit their comments, especially on his methodology of abridging the Talmud as outlined in the lengthy introduction here.

    Grandson of Chassidic Rebbe R. Aaron of Staroselje (one of the closest students of the Alter Rebbe), Michael Rodkinson (Frumkin) grew up in a Chabad home in Russia before he moved to Germany and then America, where he followed a far more Maskillic path and lifestyle. As a polemicist, Rodkinson attracted many detractors. He changed his family name in order to avoid arrest for financial extortion.