Joseph Jacobs is remarkable for his learning, especially in folklore, history, ethnology, and anthropology. Also impressive is his productiveness: he wrote, edited, and translated at least twenty-nine books and composed innumerable articles, reviews, and encyclopedia entries. Some of his early work was published anonymously and cannot be identified now. According to his daughter, May Bradshaw Hays, Jacobs once told her that his first published book, titled Dental Bridges and Crowns, was ghostwritten for a dentist. Perhaps he was joking, but he had been supporting himself (and later his young wife and family) by his pen since the late 1870s, and no task was too tedious. Jacobs's varied canon might suggest hackwork, but that is certainly untrue in his case. Although many of his works are now out of print, his books on the history of the Jewish people in Spain remain valuable sources for the researcher, and his writing maintained a high quality.
This is a free page. This page contains 151 words. This
biography contains 3,915 words (approx. 13 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Joseph Jacobs Access Pass.
