אוסף מרמורשטיין The Marmorstein Collection Brad Sabin Hill THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER Manchester 2017 1 The Marmorstein Collection CONTENTS Acknowledgements Note on Bibliographic Citations I. Preface: Hebraica and Judaica in the Rylands -Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts: Crawford, Gaster -Printed Books: Spencer Incunabula; Abramsky Haskalah Collection; Teltscher Collection; Miscellaneous Collections; Marmorstein Collection II. Dr Arthur Marmorstein and His Library -Life and Writings of a Scholar and Bibliographer -A Rabbinic Literary Family: Antecedents and Relations -Marmorstein’s Library III. Hebraica -Literary Periods and Subjects -History of Hebrew Printing -Hebrew Printed Books in the Marmorstein Collection --16th century --17th century --18th century --19th century --20th century -Art of the Hebrew Book -Jewish Languages (Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, Others) IV. Non-Hebraica -Greek and Latin -German -Anglo-Judaica -Hungarian -French and Italian -Other Languages 2 V. Genres and Subjects Hebraica and Judaica -Bible, Commentaries, Homiletics -Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Rabbinic Literature -Responsa -Law Codes and Custumals -Philosophy and Ethics -Kabbalah and Mysticism -Liturgy and Liturgical Poetry -Sephardic, Oriental, Non-Ashkenazic Literature -Sects, Branches, Movements -Sex, Marital Laws, Women -History and Geography -Belles-Lettres -Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine -Philology and Lexicography -Christian Hebraism -Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim Relations -Jewish and non-Jewish Intercultural Influences and Confrontation -Biography and Autobiography -Festschriften and Memorial Volumes -Serials -Offprints -Bibliography and Reference Orientalia, Classica, Non-Judaica Ancient Near East, Classica, Hellenistica, Patristica, Occidentalia VI. Manuscripts -Original Hebrew and German Mss. -Between Manuscript and Print -Marmorstein’s Personal Papers VII. Posthumous Additions to Marmorstein’s Library Bibliography of Sources Appendices 3 The Marmorstein Collection APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Places of Hebrew Printing represented in the Marmorstein Collection (and approximate number of titles held) APPENDIX 2 Places of Hebrew Printing by Countries as represented in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 3 Places of Hebrew Printing by Regions as represented in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 4 Places of Hebrew Printing Most Represented in the Marmorstein Collection (in 10 or more titles, by number of titles and by place) APPENDIX 5 Places of Hebrew Printing by Century as represented in the Marmorstein Collection (by century and year of earliest examples) APPENDIX 6 Hebrew Printed Books of the Sixteenth Century in the Marmorstein Collection (by date, place, printer) APPENDIX 7 Hebrew Books of the Seventeenth Century in the Marmorstein Collection (chronological selection) APPENDIX 8 Aesthetic and Graphic Elements in Hebrew Books Illustration, Decoration, Tinted Paper, Coloured Ink in the Marmorstein Collection (selected examples, chronological) APPENDIX 9 Aramaic Titles of Hebrew Texts in the Marmorstein Collection (including titles partially in Aramaic) APPENDIX 10 Judeo-Arabic Printed Books (excluding academic editions) in the Marmorstein Collection (by place of publication and date) 4 APPENDIX 11 Yiddish Printed Books in the Marmorstein Collection (chronological) APPENDIX 12 Non-Hebrew Printed Books of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries (Greek, Latin, Italian, French, English, German) in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 13 German-Jewish Authors German, Austrian, other Central European, Germanophone or German-trained Jewish scholars represented in German-language publications in the Marmorstein collection (selected names) APPENDIX 14 Places of Jewish Publishing in German represented in the Marmorstein Collection (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere) APPENDIX 15 Hungarian-Language Jewish Writers represented in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 16 Places of Hungarian-Language Printing and Publishing represented in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 17 Responsa Literature, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries in the Marmorstein Collection (chronological selection) APPENDIX 18 Places of Publication of Responsa Literature represented in the Marmorstein Collection (with number of titles per town) APPENDIX 19 Kabbalah and Mysticism in the Marmorstein Collection (chronological selection of early works) APPENDIX 20 Sephardic, Oriental and Non-Ashkenazic Authors represented in the Marmorstein Collection (alphabetical list of authors, whether held in original editions, modern critical editions, or subjects of secondary studies) 5 APPENDIX 21 Women’s Literature Writing by or about Women in the Marmorstein Collection (selected works, chronological) APPENDIX 22 Historiography and Geography in the Marmorstein Collection (selection of original texts in Hebrew and Yiddish, chronological by date of publication) APPENDIX 23 Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine Hebrew texts in the Marmorstein Collection (chronological selection) APPENDIX 24 Biography, Autobiography, Festschriften and Memorial Volumes in the Marmorstein Collection APPENDIX 25 Serials Journals, Periodicals, Yearbooks, Annual Reports, etc. whether runs of any length or single issues held in the Marmorstein Collection (by language) APPENDIX 26 Sources of Offprints in the Marmorstein Collection (titles of serials by language) APPENDIX 27 Bibliographic and Reference Literature in the Marmorstein Collection (selected works) APPENDIX 28 Original Hebrew and German Manuscripts in the Marmorstein Collection (excluding personal papers of Dr Arthur Marmorstein) APPENDIX 29 Hebrew Incunables in the John Rylands Library A Checklist APPENDIX 30 The Earliest Illustrated Hebrew Book in the John Rylands Library 6 אוסף מרמורשטיין The Marmorstein Collection Acknowledgements The author of this survey is indebted to a number of individuals who have facilitated his work. Thanks are due in particular to Jane Gallagher, Special Collections Librarian, and Julianne Simpson, Collection and Research Support Manager, who from the outset responded to numerous queries regarding records for the Marmorstein Collection in the online library catalogue of the University of Manchester. I must thank the anonymous specialist of the university’s IT department for providing, in addition to the initial excel file of bibliographic records, several further automated sorts per my resquest. I am especially indebted to Professors J. R. Osborn (Washington) and Ofra Tirosh-Becker (Jerusalem) who kindly assisted me in manipulating the original excel file. I am grateful to Prof. Szonja Komoróczy (Budapest) for answering queries regarding the Hungarian literature, and to Michael Kent (Ottawa), Olga Sixtová (Prague) and Heike Tröger (Rostock) for responding to bibliographic questions. The dedicated and congenial staff of the Special Collections Reading Room as well as Karen Jacques have been most helpful over the months of my fellowship at the Rylands in the summer of 2017. I am very grateful to Paul Kent, Middle East Librarian in the University of Manchester, for providing documentation on the Judaica and Middle Eastern collections. Elizabeth Gow has kindly provided background on manuscripts in the Marmorstein Collection. Drs Maria Cioata, Renate Smithuis, Katharina Keim and Stefania Silvestri have through their exceptional bibliographic work and in person shared details of other Hebrew collections at the Rylands. The conservator Laura Caradonna was most helpful while examining illustration and graphic elements in the books. The consideration of all these people has been much appreciated. I must acknowledge Professors Alexander Samely and Daniel Langton of the Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Manchester who have given me the opportunity, via the Fellowship in Wissenschaft des Judentums, to work on Marmorstein’s books. Laura Mitchell has expertly assisted with bureaucratic details of the fellowship. Prof. Philip Alexander, FBA, with whom conversations have always been enlightening and delightful in equal measure, first drew my attention to Marmorstein’s books some 25 years ago. I was intrigued then, and it is gratifying that in the fullness of time I have been able to describe them. Brad Sabin Hill Fellow in Wissenschaft des Judentums (Marmorstein Collection) The John Rylands Library University of Manchester November 2017 AETATIS SUAE בס"ד 7 Note on Bibliographic Citations (standardization of personal names and toponyms, romanization of titles, and dates of publication) Records in the University of Manchester online catalogue for the thousands of Hebrew volumes in the Marmorstein collection generally follow established forms (in accord with Library of Congress rules) for the romanization of Hebrew titles, and indeed the title is generally the most reliable field for searching specific Hebrew books in the online catalogue. However, these same records provide a variety of forms of personal names (whether authors, editors or printers), as well as multiple non-standard forms of mainly European toponyms, which have been romanized every which way from their Hebrew-character orthography as they appear on Hebrew title-pages, thus rendering searches in these fields problematic at best. In light of these inconsistencies, we have where appropriate standardized forms of personal or family names (such as found in Encyclopaedia Judaica) rather than making use of any of the variant or discrepant forms found in the library’s online records. Similarly, names of towns of printing/publishing have been standardized