Michael Heilprin

Scholar and encyclopedist, born in Piotrow, Poland. Educated solely by his father, he showed an early propensity for learning. His family removed to Hungary in 1842 to escape Russian oppression, and he soon mastered Magyar. His revolutionary poetry was widely popular before the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, and after the collapse of the Revolution he fled to avoid imprisonment. In 1856 he emigrated to the USA and took an interest in politics and the abolition of slavery. He was engaged in 1858 to work on the New American Cyclopaedia, and the thorough revision of the American Cyclopaedia (1872–6) owes much to his scholarship. He wrote regularly for the Nation and contributed notably to its reputation for accuracy. Because much of his writing was anonymous, his own reputation, though excellent, was limited in extent. His only published book is a study of Old Testament poetry, The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews (2 vols, 1879–80).

Michael Heilprin (1823-1888) was a biblical scholar, critic, and writer, born at Piotrkow, Russian Poland, to Jewish parents.

His father, Phineas Mendel Heilprin, left Poland for Hungary in 1842. On the outbreak of the Hungarian revolution in 1848, Michael threw himself ardently into the movement led by Kossuth. The collapse of the revolution resulted in him leaving Europe by 1858 for the United States where he remained for the rest of his life.

He was connected with the American Cyclopœdia from 1858 and was one of the associate editors of the new edition of that publication (1873-1876). In 1879-1880, he published two volumes of The Historical Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews, Translated and Critically Examined, a work of profound original research.