SMC 13

Hebrew manuscripts are considered to be invaluable documents and artefacts of Jewish culture and history. Research on Hebrew manuscript culture is progressing rapidly and therefore its topics, methods and questions need to be enunciated and reflected upon. The case studies assembled in this volume explore various fields of research on Hebrew manuscripts. They show paradigmatically the current developments concerning codicology and palaeography, book forms like the scroll and codex, scribes and their writing material, patrons, collectors and censors, manuscript and book collections, illuminations and fragments, and, last but not least, new methods of material analysis applied to manuscripts. The principal focus of this volume is the material and intellectual history of Hebrew book cultures from antiquity to the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, its intention being to heighten and sharpen the reader's understanding of Jewish social and cultural history in general.

FrontmatterI - IV

ContentsV- VI

PrefaceVII - X
by Irina Wandrey

Codicology and Paleography

From the Archaeological Turn to ‘Codicologie Structurale’:
The Concept of Codicology and the Material Description of Hebrew Manuscripts3
by Javier del Barco

Scribal Aspects of the Manufacturing and Writing of the Qumran Scrolls29
by Emanuel Tov

The Anatomy of Non-biblical Scrolls from the Cairo Geniza49
by Judith Olszowy-Schlanger

A Pentateuch to Reand in? The Secrets of the Regensburg Pentateuch89
by Hanna Liss

Editing

Shedding Light on Metatron – Recently Discovered Fragments of Mystical Writings in Germany131
by Andreas Lehnhardt

On the History of Editing Pre-Modern Yiddish Manuscript Texts155
by Diana Matut

Collections

The Preservation of Hebrew Books by Christians in the Pre-Reformation German Milieu203
by Ilona Steimann

Johannes Reuchlin’s Collection of Hebrew Books – Its Afterlife and Influence227
by Reimund Leicht

Matters of Provenance: Hebrew Manuscripts Owned by a Distinguished French Archbishop243
by Ilana Tahan

Jacob Georg Christian Adler (1756–1834) and his Books275
by Ronny Vollandt

Material Studies

Building a Bridge from the Dead Sea Scrolls to Mediaeval Hebrew Manuscripts309
by Ira Rabin

Composition Analysis of Writing Materials in Geniza Fragments323
by Zina Cohen, Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, Oliver Hahn, Ira Rabin

‘Write on Three Ribs of a Sheep’: Writing Materials in Ancient and Mediaeval Jewish Magic339
by Bill Rebiger

Cultural Studies

Codex hebraicus 18 and Codex hebraicus 53 in the Hamburg State and University Library – ‘
Corrected by Yiṣḥaq of Arles’363
by Gottfried Reeg

The Pillars of Exile by R. Yiṣḥaq of Corbeil:
The Small Book of Commandments in Codex hebraicus 17, State and University Library Hamburg421
by Ingrid Kaufmann

Pictorial Messages in Mediaeval Illuminated Hebrew Books: Some Methodological Considerations443
by Katrin Kogman-Appel


List of Contributors469

Indices473