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Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books at the Library of Congress A Finding Aid פה Washington D.C. June 18, 2012 ` Title-page from Maimonides’ Moreh Nevukhim (Sabbioneta: Cornelius Adelkind, 1553). From the collections of the Hebraic Section, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. i Table of Contents: Introduction to the Finding Aid: An Overview of the Collection . iii The Collection as a Testament to History . .v The Finding Aid to the Collection . .viii Table: Titles printed by Daniel Bomberg in the Library of Congress: A Concordance with Avraham M. Habermann’s List . ix The Finding Aid General Titles . .1 Sixteenth-Century Bibles . 42 Sixteenth-Century Talmudim . 47 ii Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books in the Library of Congress: Introduction to the Finding Aid An Overview of the Collection The art of Hebrew printing began in the fifteenth century, but it was the sixteenth century that saw its true flowering. As pioneers, the first Hebrew printers laid the groundwork for all the achievements to come, setting standards of typography and textual authenticity that still inspire admiration and awe.1 But it was in the sixteenth century that the Hebrew book truly came of age, spreading to new centers of culture, developing features that are the hallmark of printed books to this day, and witnessing the growth of a viable book trade. And it was in the sixteenth century that many classics of the Jewish tradition were either printed for the first time or received the form by which they are known today.2 The Library of Congress holds 675 volumes printed either partly or entirely in Hebrew during the sixteenth century. Many, though not all, of these books came to the Library via Ephraim Deinard, the legendary bookseller and bibliophile whose collections, purchased through the generosity of Jacob H. Schiff in 1912 and 1914, form the nucleus of the Hebraic Section at the Library of Congress.3 And in conjunction with the activities marking the centennial of this first, all-important donation, the Hebraic Section is pleased to offer a Finding Aid for one of the richest and most important groups of books in the Deinard collections. The Library’s 675 Hebrew books from the sixteenth century constitute one quarter of the approximately 2,700 titles known to have been printed in Hebrew from 1501-1599, according to the most recent estimates.4 At first glance, 25% might seem somewhat less than impressive, but it is important to remember that many of these 2,700 titles consist of multi-volume works such as the Bible or the Babylonian Talmud, which alone went through many, many editions over the course of the sixteenth century. With this point in mind, the Library’s collection of sixteenth-century Hebrew books can, in fact, be seen as representative of the whole in terms of genres and authorship, and highly comprehensive in terms of geographical span. The Library of Congress holds books printed by almost all of the great printers of Hebrew in the sixteenth century and from almost every town or city where Hebrew books were printed over the course of the century, in Italy, Eastern Europe, and the Ottoman Empire.5 Its collections can also boast of an impressive number of printing firsts. Amongst these we could mention: 1 Hebrew printing began around 1470 and centered in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Of the some 140 titles known today (estimates vary), the Library of Congress holds 37. For an annotated list of Hebrew incunabula in the Library of Congress, see http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/pdf/HebrewIncunabula.pdf 2 There is a rich and fast-growing bibliography on all aspects of the Hebrew book in the sixteenth century. For a comprehensive list on the subject, see Marvin J. Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book (Leiden: Brill, 2004), Vol. II, pp. 987-997. One important addition to the growing bibliography is the recently-published collection of essays in The Hebrew Book in Early Modern Italy, eds. Joseph R. Hacker and Adam Shear (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). 3 The Library subsequently purchased two additional Deinard collections in 1916 and 1920. For a history of the Hebraic Section, see: Israel Schapiro, “The Hebrew Collections at the Library of Congress,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 36 (1916),” pp. 355-359; the overview by Michael W. Grunberger in Abraham J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (Washington D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1991), pp. xv-xvi; and Myron M. Weinstein, “The First Deinard Collection of the Library of Congress,” Judaica Librarianship 12 (2006), pp. 31-49. An online account is also available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/hs/hscoll.html. 4 See Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, p. xiii (Introduction). 5 See Aaron Freiman, A Gazetteer of Hebrew Printing (New York: New York Public Library, 1946). iii - the First Rabbinic Bible (Venice, 1517).6 - 22 of the 44 tractates of the precious first edition of the Babylonian Talmud, printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice, 1520-1523. This includes a copy of Pesahim, the first treatise Bomberg printed.7 - the first Jerusalem Talmud (Venice, 1522-1523). - the first Karaite prayer book (Venice, 1528-1529).8 - the first true polyglot volume from the Bible: Psalterium Hebraeum, Graecum, Arabicum, et Chaldaeum (Genoa, 1516). - the first printed commentary on the Haggadah: Zevah Pesah (Constantinople, 1505). - the editio princeps of the Zohar (Mantua, 1558-1560). - the editio princeps (in fact, two copies) of the path-breaking Me’or Eynaim by Azariah de Rossi (Mantua, 1573/1574). - the editio princeps of Iggeret Bacale Hayyim (Mantua, 1557). - the editio princeps of Sefer Rav Mordecai as a separate work (Riva di Trento, 1558). - the editio princeps of several collections of rabbinic responsa, including: Maimonides (Constantinople, 1514); Asher ben Yehiel (Constantinople, 1517); Israel ben Pethahiah Isserlein (Venice, 1519). The Library also holds a copy of the first printed novellae by Nahmanides (Venice, 1523). Other important firsts in the Library’s collections include: - the first Hebrew book to boast a title-page: Sefer ha-Rokeah (Fano, 1505).9 - the first Hebrew book with a true index: the responsa of Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi (Rome, 1545- 1546).10 - the first book printed in North Africa: Sefer Abudarham (Fez, 1517). - the first book printed in the Land of Israel: Lekah Tov (Safed, 1577). - the first book with a Hebrew map (more or less!) of the New World: Iggeret Orhot Olam (Venice, 1586). The above items might well be considered the pearls of any sixteenth-century collection. But even without a claim to “firsts,” there are other items in the collection eminently worthy of mention, amongst them: a copy of Lehem Yehuda (Sabbioneta, 1554), with the author’s moving eye-witness account of the burning of Hebrew books in Italy in 1553;11 the rhymed tales of Mashal ha-Kadmoni with their charming woodcut illustrations (Venice, ca. 1547); and 5 books printed by Doña Reyna Nasi in the press she established first in Belvedere, her princely home in 12 Ortoköy just outside Constantinople, and subsequently in Kuru-Chesme. We could also mention a number of important early imprints from Constantinople, amongst them a complete early edition of Halakhot Rav Alfas (1509); Maimonides’ Sefer ha-Mitsvot (1510?); and the Midrash Tehilim whose first half was published in 6 Both the First Rabbinic Bible, as well as the Iggeret Bacale Hayyim listed somewhat below that, are examples of important books that entered the Library of Congress during the past ten years and not via the Deinard Collections. 7 The different editions of the Bomberg Talmud in the Library’s holdings were identified with the help of the microfiche copies of Bomberg’s four editions (Leiden: IDC Publishers, 1997). 8 This deserves a caveat; the Library’s copy is, in fact, only a fragment, and in poor condition. 9 Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, p. 11. 10 As pointed out by Bernard Dov Cooperman, “Organizing Knowledge for the Jewish Market: An Editor/Printer in Sixteenth- Century Rome,” in Perspectives on the Hebrew Book: The Myron M. Weinstein Memorial Lectures at the Library of Congress, ed. Peggy K. Pearlstein (Washington D.C.: the Library of Congress, 2012), pp. 79-129. 11 Amongst the Hebrew books burned in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on the Sabbath, October 21, 1553, was his own Lehem Yehuda, no. 121 in Avraham M. Habermann, Ha-Madpis Kornelio Adelkind u-veno Daniel (Jerusalem, Reuven Mass, 1980). 12 Of the 15 titles known from this press and listed by Avraham Yacari in Ha-Defus ha-cIvri be-Kushta, (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1967), the Library holds: Sefer Gal shel Egozim (no. 228) and Torat Moshe (no. 232) from Belvedere; and Iggeret Shemuel (no. 234), Ketubot (no. 236), and Vol. 4 of the responsa of Joseph ibn Lev (no. 237) from Kuru-Chesme. A 16th title, the treatise Pesahim, is claimed by Bernhard Freidberg in Toledot ha-defus ha-cIvri be-medinot Italiah, Aspamiah-Portugaliah, Turgamah ve-artsot ha- kedem (Antwerp: M. Jacobowitz, 1934), but no trace of this book has been found and Yacari, p. 33, note 21, questions whether it was ever printed. iv Constantinople, 1512, and the second half in Salonika, 1515. And perhaps most significant of all: the extremely important fragments from a projected edition of the Babylonian Talmud in Sabbioneta, 1554; about which very little is known – and much conjectured.13 Together with its strengths, the Finding Aid also points out a number of significant gaps in the Library’s collections; and certain titles, such as the Second Rabbinic Bible or Ibn Verga’s Shevet Yehuda, or imprints from the few cities not represented in our collections, remain desiderata.
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