Judenstaat, Herzl Theodor, 1896, 1900 max

Buchbeschreibung: Leipzig & Vienna: Breitenstein, 1896. Soft cover. Buchzustand: Fine. THE MANIFESTO OF ZIONISM. Recent paper wrappers. Half calf case. A near fine, untrimmed copy. Rare in untrimmed state. FIRST EDITION of the manifesto of Zionism. After covering the Dreyfus case and witnessing the accompanying virulent anti-Semitism as Paris correspondent for a Vienna newspaper, Herzl became convinced that the establishment of a Jewish homeland was necessary. The first draft of this work, titled "Address to the Rothschilds," was to be a private communication not intended for publication. Herzl planned to show the Rothschilds that their wealth was "an ever-rising tower that was bound to collapse unless the base upon which it rested was proportionately widened. The Rothschilds' wealth, he argued, should be sanctified by the goal it serves. It should provide the financial basis of a vast program of migration and settlement, which Herzl set out to describe in detail" (Encyclopedia Judaica). When his friends suggested that he had lost his mind, Herzl set about transforming the "Address" into a broader work to convince the world of the need for a Jewish state. The result was Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). "It was Herzl's book which really crystallized the idea of a national home for the Jews. Two conceptions had prevailed hitherto: either that of the ghetto, presupposing an unbridgeable gulf between Jews and Gentiles, or that of assimilation, which meant a complete acceptance by the Jews of their environment leading eventually to their becoming part of the people among whom they lived. Herzl took a different view. By his work he transformed the Jewish people from a passive community into a positive political force. That a Jewish State was created in Palestine within fifty years of his death was due to the vision and the practical methods of Herzl, expressed in his manifesto of 1896" (PMM). Printing and the Mind of Man 381. NYPL Books of the Century 154. Buchnummer des Verkäufers ABE-3587044118