Jews Suppress Publication of Burton Manuscript
Source: The Independent UK | March 17, 2002
Explorer Burton’s Anti-Semitic Manuscript
Splits British Jews
[Or, Should we Let the Goyim Read This?]
By Robert Mendick
Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
One of the most virulent anti-Semitic documents ever written is at the centre of a dispute that has divided senior figures in the Jewish community.
The Board of Deputies, which represents Britain’s Jews, has been promised £75,000 to prevent the manuscript, written by the Victorian explorer Sir Richard Burton, from seeing light of day.
But after nine months of negotiation, the deal has hit a snag. While the Board is accused of needlessly dragging its heels on a sensitive issue, it, in turn, blames the delay on unforeseen charity rules that put in doubt the validity of the deal.
The Charity Commission could rule the “sale” of the document unlawful because the Board of Deputies would not be making the most of one of its most valuable assets.
The content of the manuscript, entitled “Human Sacrifice Among the Sephardine or the Eastern Jews”, is repugnant. It contains at its heart the notorious “blood libel” – the bizarre allegation that Jews indulge in ritual human sacrifice.
The manuscript, partly in the handwriting of Burton, more famous for translating the Kamasutra and for visiting Mecca in disguise at a time when Christians were executed for doing so, has been seen by only a few academics.
After Burton’s death his widow, Isabel, ordered its destruction because of the damage it would do to his reputation. But her editor saved it, publishing a version with the most offensive passages removed.
The Board of Deputies bought the book, which was written in the 1870s and runs to more than 300 pages, in 1909 to prevent its publication. But last summer, in spite of a furious backlash, it put the document up for sale at Christie’s to raise money for a down payment on new headquarters.
Amid fears that neo-Nazis would attempt to buy the book, an anonymous Jewish benefactor offered to donate £150,000 to the Board on condition it was withdrawn from sale and remain locked away.
Instead the Board persisted with the sale, but it failed to reach its reserve price. Christopher Ondaatje, the Labour Party donor, author on Burton and collector of his works, was favourite to buy the book but pulled out, in part because of the adverse publicity.
When the manuscript failed to reach its reserve, the benefactor reduced his offer to £75,000. Nine months on, the deal has still not gone through.
Greville Janner, the Labour peer and former president of the Board of Deputies, who brokered the deal, is appalled at the delay. “I had hoped they would have dealt with the matter very swiftly,” he said. “This is one of the most anti-Semitic documents in the world.”
The Board said no deal can be finalised until the Charity Commission gives it the go-ahead. Meanwhile the manuscript is currently locked in a safe in the office of the Board’s director general, Neville Nagler.
Mr Nagler blamed the adverse publicity for the manuscript’s failure to sell. The book, he said, would have fetched “considerably more” than £75,000 at auction but the “main bidder withdrew after the allegations of anti-Semitism and the exaggerated claims Greville Janner was making about it”.
The Charity Commission said on Friday that it had no records of discussions with the Board about the book’s “sale”. A Board spokesman said the commission was a large organisation that was possibly ignorant of its own workings.
Burton, Sir Richard
Copyright 1995 by Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
Sir Richard Francis Burton, an intrepid English explorer of inner Africa in the mid-19th century, discovered the great Central African lakes. Born on Mar. 19, 1821, he was brought up in France and Italy. He studied for a time at Oxford University and then purchased a commission in the Bombay Native Infantry. From 1843 to 1848 he soldiered in Sind in northwestern India (now Pakistan). Between 1853 and 1855, Burton visited the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in disguise and made a dangerous foray to the forbidden city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia.
Burton’s greatest journey began in 1857 on the coast of what is now eastern Tanzania. Following African paths, he became (1858) the first white in modern times to view Lake Tanganyika. Ill with malaria, he did not travel north with John SPEKE to Lake Victoria and thus failed to discover the source of the Nile.
Later, Burton crossed the United States to Salt Lake City and went on to Panama before returning to England in 1861. For the next three years he served as British consul at Fernando Po, off the coast of Nigeria, went up the Congo River, and journeyed to Dahomey (now Benin). He was later consul in Santos, Brazil (1865-69), Damascus, and Trieste (1872-90). Burton died on Oct. 20, 1890.
In addition to his travels, which he celebrated in 21 books, Burton produced books on swordsmanship and falconry and is widely remembered for his translation of the Tales of the Arabian Nights. A brilliant linguist, he also secretly translated a number of Eastern erotic manuals. Burton’s frankness about sexuality in his publicly distributed works offended many Victorians, and after his death his widow destroyed his papers to avoid scandal.
Robert I. Rotberg
Bibliography: Brodie, Fawn, The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton (1967; repr. 1984); Burne, G. F., Richard F. Burton (1985); Rice, Edward, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (1990).
Copyright 1995 by Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
