"If ever a piece of writing could produce mass hatred, it is this one. ... This book is about lies and slander.” —Elie Wiesel on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
(ANTISEMITISM). The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion – Translated from The Russian to the English Language for the Information of all True Americans & to Confound Enemies of democracy & The Republic also to Demonstrate the Possible Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy as to World Domination by The Chosen People
New York: Beckwith, 1920
Original blue cloth. Hinges restored, spine rubbed and soiled. Stamps of a synagogue library and a YM-YWHA Judaica library, deaccessioned. A rare survival documenting the efforts of American Jews to address antisemitism.
[this unique copy has tipped in at the front:]
Address issued by the American Jewish Committee and nine allied organizations as rebuttal to the implied indictment of The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion … New York: Beckwith, [1921?]. 9pp. WorldCat locates only five copies.
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, preceding the Boston edition. Written in Russian in 1903, this foundational text of modern antisemitism made waves in western countries as evidence of a Jewish plot to disrupt the Christian order. On the publication of the London edition in 1920, The Times of London hailed it as a warning of what world Jewry would do if left unchecked (the newspaper retracted this claim the following year when it reported that The Protocols was a hoax).
This American translation from the Russian was commissioned and published by Harris Ayres Houghton, a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Department of War. Houghton was a “zealous counter-subversive, obsessed by the [alleged] Jewish to America’s war effort” (Singerman). The title page is headed “Praemonitus Praemunitus” (Forewarned is Forearmed).
This unique copy bears, tipped in at the front, a nine-page pamphlet rebuttal also published by Beckwith ostensibly to allow “a full and unhampered discussion of the subject.” The address is signed in print by major Jewish leaders including Louis Marshall, Cyrus Adler, Julius Rosenwald, Cyrus Sulzberger Julian Mack, Jacob de Hass, Herbert S. Goldstein, Nathan Strauss, and Stephen S. Wise. It is not clear whether the publisher distributed this rare pamphlet out of public-mindedness, to avoid lawsuits, or to cultivate a Jewish market for his hateful book. This was acquired by a synagogue’s library and then became part of a notable Judaica library affiliated with the YMHA. It was since deaccessioned.
The Protocols has had a great impact on the spread of anti-Semitism in the 20th century. “For example, the first [Nazi] anti-Semitic measure in April of 1933, a one-day boycott of Jewish stores, was deemed a defense against the ‘Plan of Basel’ (another name for the Protocols)” (Anti-Defamation League). Nazi propagandists published the work and cited it widely to stir up hatred of the Jews. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most notorious and widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Its lies about Jews, which have been repeatedly discredited, continue to circulate today, especially on the Internet. The individuals and groups who have used the Protocols are all linked by a common purpose: to spread hatred of Jews” (Holocaust Encyclopedia).
This is a remarkable copy of the first American Protocols, evidence of the efforts of American Jews to understand and address the slanders of the most notorious antisemitic book of the 20th century.
$2,500