Paper Wrappers. 8vo. Viii, 182 pages. 21 cm. First edition. In German. Title translates as: “Jewish Wedding Sermons. ” This collection of Wedding Sermons were written and published by Salomon Plessner, a “German preacher and Bible commentator; born at Breslau April 23, 1797; died at Posen Aug. 28, 1883. Having lost his father when very young, Plessner had to support his mother and himself. He engaged in business, but found time to study Hebrew, rabbinics, and German, under Wessely's influence. At the age of seventeen Plessner began to study Wessely's Hebrew translation of the Apocrypha, resolving to continue the translation himself. He indeed published at Breslau in 1819 his Hebrew translation of the Apocryphal additions to the Book of Esther, under the title "Hosafah li-Megillat Ester, " with a literary-historical introduction. At the same time he became known as an eloquent preacher. Many of his sermons were published, among them his funeral oration on the death of Abraham Tiktin, bearing the Hebrew title "Zeker ? Addi? Li-Berakah" (Breslau, 1821) . In 1830 Plessner removed to Berlin, where for a short time he was a teacher in the normal school. Although possessing all the knowledge necessary for an Orthodox rabbi, he persistently declined rabbinical office, preferring freedom of speech. He earned a livelihood by preaching every other Saturday in the Berlin bet ha-midrash, continuing at the same time his study of the Apocrypha. In 1832 his "Nozelim Min Lebanon" was published in Berlin. This work consisted of a Hebrew translation of a part of the Apocrypha, with an appendix, entitled "Duda'im, " containing exegetical notes, verses in Hebrew and German, and sermons. The following year he was invited to dedicate the new synagogue at Bromberg, for which occasion he composed poems in Hebrew and in German, which were published under the title "Shirim la-? Anukkat Bet ha-Tefillah" (Berlin, 1834) . In his sermons Plessner adopted the expressions of the most eminent Christian preachers, interspersing his sentences with verses of Schiller and Goethe, and rejecting the derashic or homiletic interpretation of the Bible. In 1834 he began to publish his sermons in yearly volumes under the general title "Belehrungen und Erbauungen" (2d ed. Berlin, 1840, under the title "Religiöse Vorträge") . In 1838 Plessner published his "Dat Mosheh wi-Yehudit, " a catechism in twelve parts, preceded by an introduction, on the nature and history of Jewish religious instruction. His oratorical talent is particularly exhibited in his "Mi? Ra'e ? Odesh" (Berlin, 1841) , a collection of holy-day sermons for the years 1835 to 1839.” (1906 Jewish Encyclopedia) Subjects: Jewish wedding sermons. Jewish sermons, German. OCLC lists 21 copies worldwide. Original paper wrappers absent. Title page very soiled around edges. All edges very bumped and soiled. Pages lightly foxed and lightly soiled throughout. However, all text legible, and pages quite crisp. Fair condition. (GER-38-49)