Pen name of Sholem Naumovich Rabinovich, a leading Yiddish author and playwright. The musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Sholem Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Milkman, was the first commercially successful English-language play about Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Very rare ALS in Hebrew, signed “Sh. Aleichem,” one onionskin page, 8.25 x 10.5, March 25, 1903. Letter to Mr. Yubakovich. In part: (translated): “Because my hands are full of work, it is impossible for me at this time to fulfill the task with which I am burdening you, and I would ask you to hasten and to speed up your actions, as the good Lord may grant you to do, and to do for me the kind of good work that I like. Please translate the [incomprehensible acronym, possibly ‘enclosed’] story for me, in honor of the [approaching] holiday, and within a few days, return the text of the story to me along with its translation, and I will pay you with the best of my money according to what you charge me for the accounting of the languages, as you would have received from [illegible, possibly ‘Mrs. Spektor’], upon the receipt of the material and during the performance of the work,… by return mail. I have also asked Mr. Krinsky to give you the copies of all of the short stories which I sent to you yesterday, and also of the dramas which I am sending you today.” In very good condition, with light creasing, intersecting folds, and paper loss and staining along the edges.
Already a central figure in Yiddish literature by this time, Aleichem was also a proficient editor and, as identified here, a translator of dramatic works. He was responsible for translating three stories submitted by Leo Tolstoy—Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, Work, Death and Sickness; and Three Questions—as well as contributions by other prominent Russian writers, including Anton Chekhov. Two years after sending this correspondence, Aleichem reluctantly left Russia and settled in New York City, but failed to establish himself in the Yiddish theater in the United States. Handwritten letters from the author are scarce and desirable. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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