Between the Covers

Hardcover. First edition. Octavo. 146pp., illustrated with a frontispiece and other photographic plates. Text in German. A fine copy in near fine dustwrapper. Inscribed by Sophie Steinberger, a beloved teacher at the Philanthropin School from 1922-1939. An original color photograph of Steinberger from 1964 is neatly taped onto the half-title page, along with two newspaper obituaries from 1965 (on the front pastedown and free endpaper). The Philanthropin School was a pioneer Jewish school founded in Frankfurt in 1804 to support poor Jewish children. The founders were inspired by Moses Mendelssohn's enlightenment philosophy ("Aufklärung und Humanität") and the school expanded into a full-scale German gymnasium for boys and girls which attracted many non-Jewish students. During the Nazi period through 1937 it was among the few places where Jewish cultural life could still be maintained. After Kristallnacht its faculty and students suffered continuous persecutions and deportations to concentration camps, and the school was shut down in 1941. Steinberger escaped to the United States, where she established a new school on the Philanthropin model. The two newspaper clippings from 1965 describe how her students and colleagues stood by her during the difficult Hitler years, and proclaim her as being inextricably linked to the school: “früher Studienrätin am Philanthropin in Frankfurt am Main: Ihr Name ist mit der Geschichte des Philanthropins unlösbar verbunden.” Her inscription and photograph date from 1964, one year before her death at 80 in 1965. A compelling association copy and tribute to Steinberger.

Item #390051