Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Liutsinskoe Delo: po obvineniu Lotsovyh, Gurevicha, i Maikh v ubiistve Marii Dritch- stenograficheskii otchet [The Lutsin Case: on the accusation of the Lotsovs, Gurevich, and Maikh in the murder of Maria Dritch- stenographic record]

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St. Petersburg: NP, 1885. First edition. Softcover. 8vo. 98pp. Light green original paper wrappers, rebound in half-cloth over dark green decorative paper boards. A stenographic account of a trial of several Jews- Lotsovs, Gurevich, and Maikh- accused of murdering Maria Dritch. Dritch, who was living in the household of a "merchant of the 2nd guild, Zimel Lotsov," had gone missing, having stolen a number of Lotsov's possessions. Three months later, her body, bound in rope, is recovered from a nearby river. The trial appears to be an anti-Semitic "blood libel" against the Jewish community of the city of Liutsin, in present-day Latvia. The motives for the murder, gathered from witnesses Agata Dritch, Marfa Oshenkova, and Grech' Ivanova (all Christian), are that Maria was in a love affair with Zimel Lotsov's son Yankel, "who intended to accept the Eastern Orthodox ("pravoslavnaya") faith and marry her," and on the night of the murder, "in the house of Zimel Lotsov was a large assembly of Jews, over half a hundred... They claimed that Zimel was conducting a circumcision ceremony for his son, but in reality it was nothing of the sort... Furthermore, Maria came to Elena, cried and said, 'my heart senses that I will not survive this night, because I overheard the assembly of Jews... speaking the word 'Kosher''..." At the conclusion of the trial, "after a 40 minute discussion, the jury found all of the defendants not guilty." Text in Russian. 1in of bottom corner of original front wrapper detatched, 1in closed tear on back wrapper. Scuffing and bumping to the rebound boards, original front wrapper detached, but present. Interior in very good. Overall in very good condition. vg. Item #22724

Price: $1,250.00