(AMSTERDAM).
MULDER, SAMUEL (Ed.). Bikurei To'eleth. pp. (8) ...

(AMSTERDAM).
MULDER, SAMUEL (Ed.). Bikurei To'eleth. pp. (8), 152. * AND: Peri To'eleth. pp.(8), 160.

Together, two volumes (all published). CRISP CLEAN COPIES. Bottom p. 6 of preliminary pages of each volume, Hebrew signature of Alexander Tal and Itzik Levi Miller, First Secretaries of the Society.
Uniform later half-calf over contemporary marbled boards. 8vo Vinograd, Amsterdam 2474 and 2523

Amsterdam: J. Van Embden 1820 and 1825

To'eleth (or in the Dutch Jewish pronunciation: "Tongeleth") was a Dutch literary society of religious Jews, who as members of the Haskalah or Enlightenment movement, advocated revival of the Hebrew tongue as a literary vehicle. These two volumes contain literary contributions by several members of the short-lived movement.

Tongeleth was founded in 1816 by Dr. Samuel Israel Mulder (1792-1862), a central figure in Dutch Jewish civic affairs and a most prolific writer. Of especial note is Mulder's Hebrew romance, Beruryah (see Peri To'eleth, pp. 53-94). Lachower in his history of modern Hebrew literature, notes that Beruryah "far stands out among other poems and poetic creations of the time."

A glaring difference between the Dutch Haskalah and the German Haskalah movements is that the Dutch were conservative by nature and there was no demand for religious reforms - in contrast to the German Haskalah's rather extreme course.

See M.H. Gans, Memorbook, pp. 350; F.P. Hiegentlich, "Reflections on the Relationship between the Dutch Haskalah and the German Haskalah, " in: Michman and Levie (Eds.) Dutch Jewish History (1984) pp. 207-18.