REVS. S. HINDS, D.D. | REVS. C. P. REICHEL.
REVS. J. WEST, D.D. | REVS. T. CRADOCK.
REVS. A. CAMPBELL. | REVS. M. RAINSFORD.
REVS. M. MARGOLIOUTH. | DR. LITTON.
REVS. G. H. CARROLL. | G. A. CRAWFORD, Esq.
* * * * *
THE Committee of the above Society beg leave to draw your attention to
the reasons of its establishment, and solicit your co-operation with it.
The beauties of Hebrew literature have been long and fully admitted by
the few whose superior tastes have led them to explore its treasures,
still, we regret to say, too little known. The necessary brevity of a
Prospectus prevents the Committee saying much on the importance of a
knowledge of that literature, especially to those who spend a great deal
of their time in making themselves acquainted with the writings of the
ancients. Suffice it to say, that those who have impartially studied
the compositions of the Greeks, of the Romans, and of the Hebrews,
have found the productions of the latter unrivalled either in beauty or
elegance by those of the two former.
It is a libel on the literary character of the Jews to say, that
they confined themselves to the cultivation of one department of
literature――a supposition which gave rise to the idea, that their
literature is very scanty, and consists only of the Hebrew Bible
and the Talmud.――The Jewish authors grace the literary pages of
Spanish history as pre-eminent philosophers, philologists, physicians,
astronomers, mathematicians, historians, grammarians, orators, and
highly-gifted poets. The Committee have had the privilege of meeting
many of the Hebrew race, highly distinguished in the above attainments,
and the only education they received was a purely Hebrew one. The Jew
spoke the truth when he affirmed, “That no nation in the universe can,
during a continuous period of full five hundred years, produce a line
of men so truly eminent, so universally learned, as can the Jews of
Spain, from the year 980, until their expulsion from that kingdom in
the year 1492.”――(_Heb. Review_, vol. ii., p. 39.)
The object of the PHILO-HEBRAIC SOCIETY is――as has been already stated
at the head of the Prospectus――to promote the study of Hebrew literature
more than has been ever done before, by reprinting the most valuable
treatises and choicest works of the Hebrew sages, such as those of
Saadia Gaon, Ben Gabriol, Samuel Nagid, Kimchi, Aben Ezra, Ralbag,
Maimonides, Joseph Albo, Joseph Pinso, Luzzati Mendelssohn, Weizel,
&c., &c., with translations of the same on opposite pages.
The Society is formed on the principle of the Parker, Camden, and
other similar Societies. Every Subscriber of One Guinea a year
(Subscription to be paid in advance) will be entitled each year to two
volumes, handsomely printed in octavo, and illustrated with prolegomena,
biographies, and notes, by well-qualified editors.
The Committee earnestly solicit the co-operation of the literary public,
and would feel very much obliged for an early favour of the names of
those who are interested in this important undertaking.
Signed for the Committee,