The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews; Volume 1
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Michael Heilprin was a Polish-born American scholar and writer. He was editor of the American Cyclopædia.
Background
Michael Heilprin was born in 1823 at Piotrkow, Poland, of Hebrew ancestry, the son of Phineas Mendel and Hannah (Lipschitz) Heilprin. His father, though a merchant, was a scholar of high rank and an earnest student of philosophy, and among his ancestors there had been noted scholars during many generations. The family were ardent Polish patriots, and, finding Russian oppression intolerable in the years that followed the failure of the Polish insurrection of 1830, emigrated to Hungary in 1842.
Education
Michael never was sent to school nor had any teacher except his father; but from his earliest childhood he evinced the love of learning which he maintained throughout life.
Career
For two years after his arrival to Hungary Michael Heilprin devoted himself to the study of the language, literature, and history of his adopted country; and he entered, heart and soul, into the great national liberal movement which culminated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Although he was a recent immigrant, such was his command of the Magyar language that his revolutionary poems had become widely popular before the outbreak of the Revolution; and in the revolutionary government he was offered and accepted the post of secretary to its literary bureau. Upon the collapse of the Revolution, Heilprin escaped imprisonment only by fleeing the country.
After a sojourn in France Heilprin returned to Hungary, but in 1856 emigrated to the United States. Here, though he was making but a precarious living by teaching, he at once became deeply interested in politics, and especially in the anti-slavery. In preparation for his coming, he had set about mastering the English language, and almost from his first arrival his facility in it was so great as to enable him to undertake any literary labor that might present itself. When, in 1858, he met George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana editors of the New American Cyclopaedia, then in its third volume these gentlemen, impressed with the extent and accuracy of his scholarship, at once intrusted him with the revision of all the geographical, historical, and biographical articles. This was the first of a series of important connections with encyclopaedic works, some of which, especially the comprehensive revision of the American Cyclopaedia (1872 - 1876), involved years of arduous labor, and drew upon his extraordinary store of accurate knowledge. Apart from the periods covered by his encyclopaedia engagements, he made his living by teaching and writing.
After the Nation was founded, Heilprin contributed articles on historical and linguistic subjects and on European politics. Since nearly all of his writing was anonymous, and since he never formed any academic connection, it was only to a few that his quality, either as a scholar or as a writer, became known.
Achievements
Michael Heilprin was famous for directing the establishment of several successful agricultural colonies in the United States for Russian-Jewish immigrants. He also was the author of the only published book, The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews (2 vols. , 1879 -1880), a critical study, with original translations, of the poetical books of the Old Testament, which was received with appreciation by eminent scholars, American and European.
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Personality
Heilprin was an enthusiasts talker and an appreciative listener; conversation with him was a delight, yet could not fail to impress the hearer with a sense of the amazing range and thoroughness of his knowledge. His beauty of soul and nobility of character were felt by all who knew him.
Connections
In his twentieth year Michael Heilprin married Henrietta Silver. They had three daughters and two sons.
