Unique Americana! A Personal Pictorial Album of the Pentateuch, with Select Verses and Moral Lessons. 1905.

Unique Americana! A Personal Pictorial Album of the Pentateuch, with Select Verses and Moral Lessons. 1905.

A unique and beautiful piece of Americana: a personal pictorial album of the Pentateuch, with images and Biblical verses, compiled by Hadassah Levine, and written in her beautiful and classic handwriting.

With exceptional thought and care, Mrs. Levine filled her album with images and texts related to events from the Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with Deuteronomy. On the right hand side, she pasted photographs of the biblical episode; on the left side she wrote a "title" for the event, followed by English translations of the verses that narrate or describe the story. Beneath these passages she wrote citations from other biblical books (such as Proverbs or Chronicals) which convey words of wisdom or morality that one may learn from the biblical episode.

The album thus serves as a personal book of moral lessons based on biblical stories – a type of literature that was extremely popular in America during the early 20th century. The entire album is written in Mrs. Levine's lovely, period-style handwriting.

Included within the album are many additional photographs of biblical artworks that were not pasted into the book. Most of them appear to come from a single source.

Inside the album's back cover is a sticker with the name of the album [Ward's Album] and its number. The album was designed specifically for pasting photos and was issued in a numbered limited edition.

The copy before us is numbered 531.

Good condition. 26 cm. Burgundy cover. The spine of the binding is lacking.