Eyshe Beirich
Sin valor comercial, or A Worthless Yiddish Library
This collection, as the name suggests, is a collection of worthless Yiddish books, with many being stamped as such with the Spanish phrase: "sin valor commercial." I have built this collection not from the standpoint of value, rarity, or even beauty—my motivation always rested on the emotional impact of printed literature. More specifically, how I have been able to find an unexpected joy and safety in the Yiddish book, and how I have attempted to find that same joy through traces of others in their inscriptions, signatures, stamps, or bookplates. I have done my best to show both the materiality and stubbornness of the Yiddish book in its refusal to submit to worthlessness, while also highlighting the priceless moments within these books’ paratexts that point towards their importance beyond money and consumership.
—Eyshe Beirich
View his full essay.
View his bibliography.
Maupassant, Guy de. Gyu de Mopasan’s Gezamelte Verk. Translated by Leon Kobrin. Vol. 1–15. 15 vols. New York: Forverts, 1923.
My most complete and most beautifully illustrated collected works—these are 15 volumes of Guy de Maupassant’s stories and dramas translated into Yiddish. There is something particularly important about these translations in relation to my collection’s theme of “Worthlessness”: Gone is the generation that would have likely wanted to read Maupassant in Yiddish translation. But I am reading them, in Yiddish, before I read them in French. They have value to me, and that experience alone is worth it.
Izban, Shmuel. Umlegale yidn shpaltn yamen. Vol. 28. Dos poylishe yudntum. Buenos Aires: Tsentral-farband fun poylishe yidn in Argentina [Central Union of Polish Jews in Argentina], 1948.
This book has a gorgeous outer cover, which is rare for these older volumes from Dos polyishe yidntum [Polish Jewry]. The back has a dedication to where it was printed; “Este libro se terminó de imprimir el 28 Febrero de 1948, en los Talleres Grá’icos Julio Kaufman, calle Corrientes N. 76.” The back cover has a price listed, with the amount crossed out with black pen: “Price — Pesos.” Condition: Worn, with a particularly delicate cover.
Peretz, Isaac Leib. Folksshtimlekhe Geshikhten. Vilne [Vilnius]: Vilner Farlag fun B. Kletskin, n.d.
An edition of some of Y. L. Peretz’s earlier “Folk-minded stories,” which become classics in Yiddish literature. This edition is undated but appears to come from Imperial Russian Poland or early after WWI.
Driz, Shike. Di ferte strune. Moskow: Sovetski Pisatel, 1969.
This book was published in the Soviet Union in 1969 and has some of the best title artwork in my collection. It is signed inside.
Hirshbeyn, Perets. Fun vayte lender. New York: Literarisher Farlag, 1918.
An example of one of three travelogues from Perets Hirshbeyn that are in the collection. Another travelogue, his Arum der velt, opens with a handwritten signature from its previous owner: “Dear Dad, Happy Father’s Day! with much love, Chaim & Anne.” I am grateful to have received this book second-hand.
Tolchin, Moyshe. Ayola un andere dertseylungen. Chicago: Tseshinskis Farlag, 1933.
A simple and stunning volume of Yiddish novellas and short stories published by Moyse Tolchin, here in Chicago, in 1933.
