Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online

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Being an encyclopedia on book cultures rather than book contents, this work places textuality and materiality of the book in the center of its investigation. The singularity of the Jewish book can only be understood in full if it is studied in its broader cultural and intercultural context. This encyclopedia does that by focusing on the paleographic features, intended function, cultural significance, readership, acceptance, and design of particular books and genres, as well as the producer-consumer relations involved in the making and circulating of books. It covers more than 2000 years of Jewish book cultures from all corners of the earth.

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online will appear before the print edition and features full-text searchable, richly illustrated articles. The print edition will be released after all online content is complete and will include one introductory volume, dealing with the fundamental research questions in the wide field of Jewish Book History, followed by three alphabetically organized volumes, offering a classic entry-by-entry encyclopedia, with articles of greatly varying length. The online work reflects this framework and presents the introductory essays as a separate, but strongly intertwined, section.

More information Brill.com

North Africa, Book Production in

(2,233 words)

Author(s): Sienna, Noam
Book culture in North Africa (the Maghreb) developed through the interplay of Sephardic, Oriental, and other Mediterranean communities. Scribes and artists produced handwritten books for individual and communal needs from the medieval to modern periods. Maghrebic Jewish communities were also engaged with the development of Hebrew printing in the early modern period, and in the 19th century a local print industry emerged, especially focused on Judeo-Arabic printing until the mid-20th century.⸙The Maghreb (Arabic al-maghrib, literally, “the West” or “the place of the s…
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online
Date: 2023-11-20

North French Hebrew Miscellany

(1,305 words)

Author(s): Offenberg, Sara
The North French Hebrew Miscellany, produced around 1280 (with some additions from the early 14th century), contains various texts and served as a kind of private library for its patron. Benjamin the scribe wrote all the central and marginal texts. The volume is suffused with marginal illustrations and full-page illuminations made at different stages of the manuscript's production. ⸙The North French Hebrew Miscellany, housed in London, British Library Add. MS 11639, also known as the London Miscellany, is a rather small sized manuscript, measuring 16.5…
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online
Date: 2023-01-31

Nuremberg Haggadah 2 and Yahuda Haggadah

(1,018 words)

Author(s): Kogman-Appel, Katrin
The Second Nuremberg Haggadah and the Yahuda Haggadah are a pair of very similar haggadot from Franconia, datable to the early 1460s. Produced just a few years after the introduction of print, they are typical specimens of late medieval book culture in an era of media change. Both are heavily illustrated and show clear signs of a division of labor. ⸙ The Second Nuremberg Haggadah (London, David Sofer Collection, formerly in the German Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg) and the Yahuda Haggadah (Jerusalem, Israel Mu…
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online
Date: 2023-01-01