The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book

The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book is a bibliographic work describing books printed with Hebrew letters in that century, covering the gamut of Hebrew literature, encompassing liturgical works, Bibles, commentaries, Talmud, Mishnah, halakhic codes, kabbalistic works, fables, and belles-lettres. Each of the 455 entries has a descriptive text page comprised of background on the author, a description of the book’s contents and physical makeup, and is accompanied by a reproduction of the title or a sample page. There is an extensive introduction with an overview of Hebrew printing and a discussion of aspects of the Hebrew book in the sixteenth century, as well as detailed back matter. It is a necessary work for bibliographers, historians, and students of Jewish literature. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004129764).

The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book covers the gamut of Hebrew literature in that century. Each entry has a descriptive text page and an accompaning reproduction. There is an extensive introduction with an overview of Hebrew printing in the seventeenth century.

The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book covers the gamut of Hebrew literature in that century. Each entry has a descriptive text page and an accompaning reproduction. There is an extensive introduction with an overview of Hebrew printing in the seventeenth century.

The rise of printing had major effects on culture and society in the early modern period, and the presence of this new technology—and the relatively rapid embrace of it among early modern Jews—certainly had an effect on many aspects of Jewish culture. One major change that print seems to have brought to the Jewish communities of Christian Europe, particularly in Italy, was greater interaction between Jews and Christians in the production and dissemination of books. Starting in the early sixteenth century, the locus of production for Jewish books in many places in Italy was in Christian-owned print shops, with Jews and Christians collaborating on the editorial and technical processes of book production. As this Jewish-Christian collaboration often took place under conditions of control by Christians (for example, the involvement of Christian typesetters and printers, expurgation and censorship of Hebrew texts, and state control of Hebrew printing), its study opens up an important set of questions about the role that Christians played in shaping Jewish culture. Presenting new research by an international group of scholars, this book represents a step toward a fuller understanding of Jewish book history. Individual essays focus on a range of issues related to the production and dissemination of Hebrew books as well as their audiences. Topics include the activities of scribes and printers, the creation of new types of literature and the transformation of canonical works in the era of print, the external and internal censorship of Hebrew books, and the reading interests of Jews. An introduction summarizes the state of scholarship in the field and offers an overview of the transition from manuscript to print in this period.

Further Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book addresses a variety of aspects of the early Hebrew book often treated in a cursory manner. The essays encompass book arts, printing-places and printers, and unusual book varia.

Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book is a collection of twenty-four essays on various aspects of Hebrew book production in the 16th-18th centuries. The subject matter encompasses little known printing-presses, makers of Hebrew books, book arts, and related subjects.