The Occident – Periodical Edited by Yitzchak Leeser – Philadelphia, 1845-1846 – Third Volume

The Occident – Periodical Edited by Yitzchak Leeser – Philadelphia, 1845-1846 – Third Volume
The Occident and American Jewish Advocate. A Monthly periodical devoted to the diffusion of knowledge on Jewish literature and religion, edited by Isaac Leeser. Volume 3, Issues 1-12 (full year, Nissan 1845-Adar 1846) bound consecutively, without cover title pages. Philadelphia, 1845-1846. English.
The Occident periodical was first published in Philadelphia, in 1843. Its founder and editor for twenty five years was Yitzchak Leeser (see item 478), who besides serving as Rabbi of the Spanish-Portuguese community of the city, Mikveh Yisrael, was considered the leader and most eloquent speaker for all the traditional Jewish population in the USA in the period preceding the Civil War. The Occident appeared each month (with the exception of a two-year period, 1859-1861, when it appeared weekly). After Leeser died in the beginning of 1868, his spiritual son (and later Judge) Meir Sulzberger succeeded him. Approximately one year later, the periodical ceased.
The Occident is considered the central Jewish periodical, the most important and earliest journal published in the US which did not only review internal events but also discussed practical topics concerning Jewish religion and the status of Jews among US citizens. Even the name of the journal was carefully chosen with political intonations: The Occident [the West] was chosen following Der Orient [the East], the name of a paper founded by Julius Fürst three years previously in Leipzig. At the same time, Leeser was also wary of the influence of the widely distributed Christian media in the US, especially the missionary magazines intended for the Jewish English reader, therefore he gave his periodical a subtitle: American Jewish Advocate, in response to the missionary paper's name Israel's Advocate, founded by the American Society for Improvement of Jewish Status (published form 1823-1827).
Throughout its whole existence, the Occident protested prejudice against Jews by the American public and greatly contributed to the efforts expended in protecting the Jewish religion in the American arena.
VII, 628 pp. 21 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Former library copy (stamps and inscriptions). Original binding, partially detached and damaged (especially the spien).
Singerman S315; Goldman 1192. See also: Hebrew Printing in America 1735-1926, by Yosef Goldman (Brooklyn, NY, 2006), Vol. 2, page 775; 1041. See attached material.