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(Xt) Seixas, James. [Hebrew Teacher Of Mormon Leader Joseph Smith] : A MANUAL [OF] HEBREW GRAMMAR: WITH A VOCABULARY OF ROOTS, NOUNS, AND PARTICLES OF COMMON OCCURRENCE, FOR THE USE OF BEGINNERS

Philadelphia: Printed For The Author, 1852

Third edition. Carefully revised, corrected, and improved.” Original board with paper label on front, as issued, 8vo, 83 pages ; 22 cm. In English with Hebrew. Singerman 1263. Goldman (183), notes, “Joshua Seixas, the son of Gershom Mendes Seixas (the minister of New York's Shearith Israel congregation), was born in New York in 1802. Little is known about his life. He taught in Shearith Israel's Hebrew school in the mid-1820s and he established the congregation's first choir. Seixas moved to Charlestown, MA, in the early 1830s and gave lessons in Hebrew. Among his pupils were Harvard students. Seixas began referring to himself as James while in Charlestown and it is assumed that he converted to Unitarian Christianity while there. Seixas then settled in Hudson, OH. He offered private Hebrew classes to students at Oberlin College, and later at Western Reserve University...He also taught groups of Mormons- the center of the movement at the time was in Kirtland, OH- and among his students were Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and Orson Hyde, another early leader of the movement. Seixas left Ohio in 1836 and he was living in Staten Island, NY, by 1838. It is not clear what his relationship to the Jewish community was in his later years. His death in 1874 is not mentioned in Shearith Israel's records, but the death of his wife is. (The two lived apart after retuning to New York.) Also, a few of his many children remained within the community; others did not. Seixas was in regular contact with Christian Hebraists throughout his life. He corresponded with Moses Stuart on personal and scholarly matters and he proofread the grammars published by Stuart and George Bush. Seixas himself authored grammars for Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Arabic….An expanded second edition (119 pp.) was published in 1834 UA #590]; a third revised and corrected edition (83 pp.) was published in 1852 UA #1263]. Seixas's grammar was reviewed favorably in its time (Goldman, 'Joshua/James Seixas," 72), though Chomsky later criticized it (Chomsky [1958], 133-4).” For detailed analysis of Seixas' relationship with the founders of the Mormon church, see Rick Grunder's 2015 essay "A Teacher for the Temple: The Infectious Exuberance of Joshua Seixas" (www.rickgrunder.com/seixas.pdf). Interesting assortment of period ownership inscriptions including Jackson Coffing; A.J. Sem, NY City Nov 21st 1853; and Geo Wilson Lemert (?), From his sister Josephine, Antioch Apr. 24th 1869. SUBJECT(S): Hebrew language -- Grammar. OCLC: 4821518. OCLC lists 17 copies worldwide. Lacks backstrip. Dampstains throughout, original boards show moisture damage as well, but book is solid. In fitted buckram archival clamshell box (AMR-65-31)

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