Description
Good condition dust jacket is illustrated with a man and a boy, dust jacket has a 1 1/2″ chip at spine and chip at upper corners. A mylar dust jacket has been added. Very Good+ condition binding is dark green cloth over boards. Light green illustration of a person on front. Light green lettering on spine with some discoloration. Inside front cover has a few spots of discoloration. Black-and-white illustrations by Forrest Jacobs. The binding is tight and pages are clean. The Book Measures 8.5″ tall x 6″ wide.
About the Book (from the dust jacket)
It would be hard to find the town of Valodarka on a map of Russia, but it actually exists. At least, it did exist once, a typical shtetl barely distinguishable from hundreds of other small towns that dotted the ghetto world of Eastern Europe before World War I. And yet, it is not quite typical- for Valodarka is home to Shlomele, and where Shlomele lives nothing is ordinary, average, or mundane.
Fashioned in the rich. humorous vein of Sholom Aleichem and Mark Twain. The Adventures of Shlomele is a story of boyhood. Specifically, it is the story of a Jewish boy, of his impoverished family, of their life in Valodarka. and of their incredible journey to freedom in the “golden city”‘ of London. It is a captivating tale of an endearing rascal for whatever else he is, Shlomele is no sweet, simpering little boy. Naïve and awed by the world’s complexities, he is nevertheless an individualist. determined to be himself at any cost and blessed with a positive genius for improvising fantastic escapades, His scrapes with the town bully, his camPaign to corner the button supply of Valodarka, his disastrous wooing of the rabbi’s daughter, his absence from his own bar-mitzvah, his first encounters with Russian officialdom, with a railroad train and an ocean liner—these are only a few of the adventures that fill Shlomele’s days. If, sometimes, he emerges scarred from these experiences he is never really beaten, for defeat has no place in Shlomele’s vocabulary
At times poignant and tender, at times bursting with hilarity, this is a spirited, warm-hearted narrative that introduces an unforgettable hero. a combination of Mottel the Cantor’s Son, Tom Sawyer, and Huck Finn–the lovable, irrepressible Shlomele
About the author (from the dust jacket)
SAUL DAVIS, Born in 1882. in Shlomele’s native town of Valodarka in the Ukraine. Mr. Davis has lived in England since 1898. He has contributed articles and stories to a number of British journals. and has translated works from Russian and French into English. As for his interest in Shlomele. Mr. Davis writes: “I knew Shlomele well in my youth. I found that I could write about him more easily than about anybody else – because, I suppose, I knew him so well. Alas! he lost his life during the var in a literary agent’s office, ‘due to enemy action.’ Fortunately, by a miracle of resurrection, I was able to send him to America. where I hope his life may be prosperously preserved.”‘
