Rare: Sefer Tehillim - Liber Psalmorum Hebraïce, Cambridge 1809. The First Hebrew Tehillim Printed in America.

Rare: Sefer Tehillim - Liber Psalmorum Hebraïce, Cambridge 1809. The First Hebrew Tehillim Printed in America.

Presented here is a complete copy of the very first part of any Hebrew Bible – as well as the first Hebrew Tehillim – to be printed in America. Not only was this edition received well, it also sparked a desire to print the complete Hebrew Bible in America, which was published a few years later in 1814. Published by Benjamin Kennicott of Harvard University, Cambridge Mass. 

Printed without Nikkud (unvocalized). The Hebrew text is at the top of each page, with Latin notes at the bottom. 

In very good condition. A small tear to outer margin of pp. 115, not affecting text. Bound in original leather binding, rubbed and chipped; joints loose. Ex-library copy. Stamp of Meadville Theological School seen on title page, not affecting text. Ownership inscription of Ira Blanchard (of Weymouth, dated 1813) and an additional ownership inscription, seen on front end-papers. 

This edition is scarce, perhaps even more so than the Philadelphia Hebrew Bible of 1814. Not listed in the NLI catalog or in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book. See also: Goldman, Hebrew Printing in America 1 and Rosenbach 152, locating just one copy - his own. 

[1], 495 pp. 18cm.