The first edition in English of the first complete Jewish prayer book printed in America.

A rare American imprint, preceded only by the pamphlet The Form of Prayer Which Was Performed at the Jews’ Synagogue in the City of New-York on Thursday October 23, 1760 (New-York, 1760) and the less substantial Evening Service of Roshashanah and Kippur (New-York, 1761)🍰. Only a handful of copies of the present work haಞve surfaced at auction in the past thirty or so years.

As the leaders of the Sephardic Jewish community in London forbade an༺ English translation (see lot 60), the creation of this work called for some justification. Isaac Pinto (1720-1791) states in the introduction:

“[Hebrew], being imperfectly understood by many, by some, not at all; it has been necessary to translate our Prayers, in t𓂃he Language of the Country wherein it hath p🐎leased the divine Providence to appoint our Lot. In Europe, the Spanish and Portuguese Jews have a Translation in Spanish, which as they generally understand, may be sufficient; but that not being the Case in the British Dominions in America, has induced me to attempt a Translation in English, not without Hope that it will tend to the Improvement of many of my Brethren in their Devotion.”

Pinto was a member of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel, the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825, which probably comprised fewer than four hundred Jews. He was also a merchant and teacher of Spanish. His English version of the prayer book was based in large part on Rabbi Isaac Nieto’s (1687-1773) Spanish translation of the liturgy for Rosh Hashanah and Yom K🃏ippur (London, 1740).