Selected Poems of Jehudah Halevi 1925 Nina Salaman Hebrew English Edition
 
Title & Bibliographic Details
Selected Poems of Jehudah Halevi
By Judah Halevi
Translated into English by Nina Salaman
With the original Hebrew text facing the English translation
Chiefly from the critical text edited by Heinrich Brody
Published 1925 by Jewish Publication Society of America
London issue: George Routledge and Sons
Printed at the Jewish Publication Society Press, Philadelphia
 
Early impression (1925) issued as part of the Jewish Publication Society’s Jewish Classics Series, an important early twentieth-century programme designed to present authoritative bilingual editions of major post-Biblical Hebrew literary works.
 
Historical & Bibliographic Context
This bilingual scholarly edition presents selected poems of one of the greatest figures of medieval Hebrew literature, printed with Hebrew and English on facing pages in accordance with the editorial principles established for the Jewish Classics Series.
 
The series followed the completion of the Jewish Publication Society’s English translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and was made possible through the generosity of Jacob Schiff. Editorial oversight included distinguished scholars such as Solomon Schechter and Cyrus Adler, whose aim was to produce reliable scholarly editions of important Jewish literary texts beyond the Biblical canon.
 
A defining feature of the series was the inclusion of original Hebrew texts alongside English translations wherever available, making volumes such as this particularly valuable to collectors of Judaica, translation history, and Hebrew literary scholarship.
 
About the Author
Judah Halevi (c.1086–c.1141) was among the most important poets of the medieval Hebrew Golden Age in Spain. A physician, philosopher, and religious thinker, his devotional and philosophical verse expressing longing for Zion remains central to Jewish literary tradition.
 
About the Translator
Nina Salaman was an influential Anglo-Jewish poet and translator whose work helped introduce medieval Hebrew poetry to English-speaking audiences in the early twentieth century.
 
Binding & Exterior Description
Original publisher’s royal blue cloth binding featuring:
gilt emblem to front board 
gilt lettering and decorative elements to spine 
top edge gilt pages 
The binding remains intact and structurally sound.
 
Condition includes:
bumping to corners 
light creasing to corners 
rubbing to edges 
light fading to spine 
a few small marks to cloth 
 
No dust jacket present.
 
Interior Condition
The interior remains clean, complete, and securely bound.
Features include:
light tanning to pages throughout 
small pen ownership inscription dated May 1925 to front free endpaper (“Amy Samuel”) 
light rubbing to inner margin of date imprint page not affecting text 
paperclip impressions to free endpapers 
occasional very small marks, creases, or folds not affecting text 
very light and partial gutter opening beside the first advertisement page 
all remaining gatherings firm and secure 
 
No tears to pages are present.
 
All 192 pages are complete and present.
 
The volume includes double-spread facing Hebrew and English text pages through page 147, followed by single-page pagination thereafter.
 
Physical Details
Pagination: 192 pages
Dimensions: 17 by 11.4 by 2.1 cm
Weight: 254 g
 
Rarity & Collector Notes
Rarity level: Scarce
This volume represents a 1925 early impression of the first edition issued within the Jewish Publication Society of America’s important Jewish Classics Series, a scholarly publishing programme established to make foundational works of post-Biblical Hebrew literature available to English-speaking readers in authoritative bilingual editions.
Early Hebrew–English facing-text editions of medieval Hebrew poetry produced within this series were issued in relatively modest print runs and are increasingly sought after by collectors of Judaica, Hebrew Golden Age literature, and early twentieth-century translation scholarship.
 
Copies retaining their original cloth bindings with top edge gilt surviving intact are becoming progressively less common on the market, particularly examples preserving clean interiors and early ownership inscriptions dated close to publication.
 
As a bilingual scholarly edition translated by Nina Salaman and presenting the work of Judah Halevi, one of the most important poets of the medieval Hebrew Golden Age, this volume represents a desirable example from the Jewish Publication Society’s early twentieth-century classical Hebrew literature programme.