Chinese Jews: A Compilation Of Matters Relating To The Jews Of K'aifeng Fu. White, William Charles.

First edition, first printing, from the library of Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut and his wife, Elizabeth Strauss. The author served as Bishop of Henan and his ministry was headquartered in Kaifeng, the provincial capital, where he controversially took over the site of the former synagogue. William White (1873-1960), a Church Missionary Society pastor, began his service in Fujian in 1897. In 1909, he was consecrated bishop and tasked with starting the society's missionary enterprise in Henan. Over the next two decades, he purchased antiquities and artefacts for the Royal Ontario Museum, where he would later become Keeper of the Asiatic Collection. White's actions vis-à-vis Kaifeng's Jewish history divided opinion, and locals objected to his purchase of the synagogue site and his attempts to ship Jewish tablets back to Canada. Nonetheless, he helped compile a wealth of information on the history of the city's Jewish community, which found full expression in this monumental three-volume history. In 1934, he returned to Canada, taking a professorship of Chinese Studies at the University of Toronto. Provenance: Elizabeth and Guenther Plaut (1910-2003; 1912-2012), with their bookplate in each volume and their shelf location slip loosely inserted in the first volume. Wolf Gunther Plaut (also known as Guenther Plaut) served as rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, for several decades, and his English-language commentary on the Torah represents a milestone in English-language religious scholarship. In 1999, he was described by Rabbi Alexander Schindler as "as a leader of his generation, arguably the most prominent rabbi of North American Jewry in the latter half of the 20th century. He was, and remains, Reform Judaism's pride, its boast, its most valued treasure" ("In Memorium"). In 1938, he married Elizabeth Strauss, a zoologist who later published on Jewish genealogy. Their archives and most of their sizeable library are held at the Leo Baeck Institute and York University, Toronto. "In Memorium: Rabbi Gunther Plaut", York University, available online. Three volumes, quarto. Original brown buckram, spines lettered in gilt, top edges trimmed, others untrimmed. Each volume with 1 or more frontispieces, illustrations in text. Cloth lightly rubbed, gilt faded in places, some leaves unopened: a near-fine set.