[Judaica- Exceedingly Scarce Smith, Sarah Brandstein Smith, 1919, First Jewish Woman Serving as Reporter for A Jewish Paper] "The Woman in Chains"

New York: Literature Publishing Company, 1919. First Edition. First Edition. 8vo. Written in Hebrew, and printed from back to forward, as per Hebrew texts. 115pp. Original publishers fine wove olive green cloth, lettering in black on clover with single thick black ruled border, lettering on spine. Extremely scarce and earliest of novels by Sarah Brandstein Smith, Sarah (1888-1968), journalist, author and playwright, born in Hungary and came to the US when she was 15-years old. She quickly learned the Yiddish language in New York, and soon landed a job as a newspaper writer, became a staff columnist. She wrote several "shund" novels (equates to "trash novels," in Yiddish, but formed an outlet and catharsis for immigrants) as well as plays for the Yiddish theater. The English language play, "Piper Paid" had a run on Broadway in 1934. Another play, "Ever the Beginning" became a movie called "My Girl Tisa" with big-name stars in 1948. "Sarah B. Smith is the most beloved Jewish newspaperwoman, the first who ever served as a reporter on a Jewish paper, and the one who has triumphantly overcome the misgivings of editors who mistrusted the abilities of a mere woman writer." (Quoted from the December 2, 1934, interview with Brandstein Smith as published in The Jewish Daily Bulletin.) In this novel the author explores the mind and emotions of a young wife who finds herself trapped in the confines of marriage in the early 1900's. Her happy married life has turned into a life of drudgery after the birth of her two children, and after her husband's business worries have caused him to drift away from her, she has aspirations to be a writer and to be a part of a creative environment. Instead, she finds herself stuck in an unhappy marriage. No copies of this title found, and none in Worldcat. Some shelfwear, fraying at extremities of spine, else very good. Most scarce and significant historically.