Abraham Firkovich (Firkowicz) was born in 1787 into a Karaite family in Lutsk (Łuck), Volhynia. In 1818, after serving for some while as the city’s ḥazzan (Karaite rabbi), he left for the flourishing port-city of Eupatoria (Yevpatoria, Trk. Gözleve) in Crimea. There and, especially, in Odessa, he became involved with the Haskala (Heb. [Jewish] Enlightenment) movement.

Firkovich collected rare books and manuscripts and was active in the publication of works of Karaite interest. In 1830 he visited Jerusalem and Hebron, where he collected many Karaite and Rabbanite manuscripts. On h…