Matilda the Little Jewess. Revised by D. P. Kidder – Antisemitic pocket-sized children’s booklet. Published by Lane & Scott for the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. A sorrowful tale of a young Jewish girl, presented as a model for the sufferings of the Jewish people. At the opening: a woodcut illustration depicting “Jews being expelled from Lithuania.” New York, 1850 – first edition. Rare.
At the opening of the story, the Jews are described as a pitiful people deserving of sympathy: “We should all feel pity for the Jews… they have no country now, and for several hundred years they have been scattered across the wide world…” It is noted that only a few years earlier, 150,000 Jews were expelled from Lithuania. However, since young children cannot comprehend such large numbers, the story that follows presents the life of a little Jewish girl “who lived and died in another part of Europe” as an example and model of the collective fate that has befallen the Jewish people.
The plot tells the story of Mathilde, a 9-year-old Jewish girl enrolled in a general school. Her parents forbid her from attending Christian religious classes at school, fearing she might be drawn to them. Over time, her curiosity grows, and with the help of a friend, she becomes exposed to Christian teachings and begins secretly praying in church. During this period, she develops a quiet connection to the Christian faith. Eventually, she contracts an incurable illness, and within a few days, she dies—because Jesus wished to gather her to himself. The booklet is written in a clearly antisemitic tone: Mathilde’s Jewish parents are portrayed as negative figures who prevent her from discovering the “Christian truth, ” while she is depicted as an innocent victim who must conceal her spiritual yearning. Her death is framed as a punishment for her parents’ refusal to allow her to embrace Christianity—a heavy price they pay for their unbelief. In the final pages of the booklet appears a lament for the Jewish people: “Scattered by the hand of vengeance, sorrowful and forsaken, mournful wanderers from their pleasant land, the children of Judah weep.”
Daniel Parish Kidder – an American editor and educator who worked within the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Kidder was involved in publishing educational and religious literature for children, including adaptations of stories conveying moral and Christian messages.
Rare. A copy published in 1851 appears in the WorldCat global library catalog; however, the 1850 edition is not listed at all.
39 pp. 11 cm. Original cover. Light stains on some pages. Good condition.
