Habima": The Moscow Theatre "Habima

Chicago: L. M. Stein Publisher, 1942. Second Enlarged Edition. Hardcover. Good. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Yiddish language text, being the Second Enlarged Edition and a Presentation Copy by the author, who inscribes the first free endpaper in Hebrew, dated to 1942. 404 pp., bound in 1/2 leather and green cloth boards, and with silk linen ribbon bookmark. Rough-cut fore-edges. Includes English title page on verso of Hebrew-language title page. Some pages are carelessly opened but with no loss of text, bumping to and scuffing of spine head and foot, toning to endpapers, some slight torque to spine. 62 full-page duotone plates. A fine and due homage to the Habimah and to Judaica, being a scion of the Jewish-Russian theater of the 20th century. Laid in is an index card with typescript snippets from Jacob Leschinsky's review, from April of 1942. Illustrated with a number of b/w facsimile photographs of important figures and historical casts from certain plays performed by the Habimah ("The Stage") which was originally founded in Moscow in 1917 under the Moscow Art Theatre. Habimah was the first professional group to ever perform their plays in Hebrew. Reviews have it that this is a fascinating social history of a Jewish theatre group in transit to and from the former Soviet Union and the U.S. The author, R. Ben-Ari, was a well-known actor and one of the original founders of Habimah in Moscow, before that world-famous ensemble left the Soviet Union, ultimately to become the National Theater of Israel. He died in Moscow at the age of 68, visiting a brother there before dying of a heart attack. He was especially known for his role in “The Dybbyk,” the play for which Habimah was widely hailed.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.