The photograph shows a youthful Sholem Aleichem in a sepia bust portrait within an oval silhouette, facing front, wearing lorgnette reading glasses. He is identified as the subject of this portrait only in an annotation in ink on the verso of the card. The mount on this copy, which has a border of black and gold, has been severely trimmed on all sides.
Statement of responsibility: Fr. de Mezer à Kieff.
Content: Title devised by cataloger.
Content: Publication date based on annotation in ink on verso of card.
Biographical/historical: Born Solomon Rabinowitz in Pereyaslav, Ukraine, the author spent his childhood in the shtetl, Voronkov. Embarking upon a literary career in the late 1870s, Rabinowitz originally wrote in Hebrew and Russian, but, by the early 1880s, began writing works for the popular press in Yiddish, employing the pseudonym, "Sholem Aleichem." Following his marriage, he moved his family to Kiev, where he experienced some prosperity for a few years, but, after some financial setbacks moved to Odessa, where he further developed his literary reputation and popularity. Sholem Aleichem decided to leave the country in the wake of the 1905 pogroms, leading a peripatetic and eventful life before spending his final years in New York City.
