PERLMANN, Saveli Maximovich.

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Hassinim, (The Chinese). First edition, first impression, of this study widely believed to be the first history of China in modern Hebrew. The author, a prominent Zionist, saw the promotion of Hebrew as an important precursor to Jewish nationhood, and this work is an early example of book publishing using the revived language.Saveli Maximovich Perlmann spent time in China as a fur trader before relocating to London in the early 20th century. There, he wrote a number of books on China all published by Jewish publishers in the East End. The present work includes chapters on such topics as the philosophical tenets of Chinese culture, the official examination system, and religion. Copies are known in both black and silver-grey cloth, with no established priority.Two years after publishing Hassinim, Perlmann completed his History of the Jews in China exploring the thousand-year history of Jewish communities in Kaifeng and other cities.Perlmann was the grandfather of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the art and architecture historian responsible for the Buildings of England series. Perlmann dedicated the present work to his son-in-law Hugo Pevsner who was living in Leipzig at the time.

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