The American Jewess, Rosa Sonneschein, New York: American Jewess Publishing Company: May, 1895-October, 1897

30 volumes (10 x 6 3/4 in.; 255 x 170 mm). Original illustrated wrappers; some lightly soiled; light wear to spines; occasional pencil marks. 

The American Jewess described itself as "the only magazine in the world devoted to the interests of Jewish women." It was certainly the first English-language publication directed to American Jewish women. The magazine's title reflected an emerging belief that this group constituted a new entity in Jewish life: women who did not experience the religious and national aspects of their identity as in conflict with each other. Published between April 1895 and August 1899, it offered an evocative range of features that included controversial issues such as synagogue membership for women and whether women should be allowed to ride bicycles, as well as health, household and fashion tips, early expressions of American Zionism, and short fiction. Published mostly as a monthly, 46 issues of The American Jewess appeared over a period of four and a half years.

The present lot comprises 30 numbers, from May, 1895 through October, 1897 and includes the rare edition of June 1897, of which no other copy is known. At its height, the magazine claimed a circulation of 31,000. In the first issue of The American Jewess, its editor, Rosa Sonneschein, observed that, "not what has happened, but what is recorded makes history." Sonneschein, the well-educated daughter of one Reform rabbi and wife of another, gave voice to the aspirations, hopes, and fears of Americanizing Jewish women at the end of the 19th century by ensuring that their experience might inform the understanding of American Jewish history in future generations.