Hebrew Manuscripts of the Middle Ages

by Colette Sirat

Overview

Hebrew manuscripts are our most important source of knowledge about Jewish medieval life, and anyone wishing to engage with Jewish history needs to know about the manuscripts, how to study them, and their literary genres. Colette Sirat offers a comprehensive overview of these subjects in this illustrated introduction. The book is a re-structured, extended and updated version of an earlier presentation in French. It has been translated from the author's revision of her earlier French book, and edited for an English readership, by Hebrew scholar Nicholas de Lange.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521770798
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/21/2002
Pages:	366
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Colette Sirat is Professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Department of History and Philology, and head of the Hebrew Department, Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Texts: 1. Before the Middle Ages; 2. The Middle Ages; Part II. Books: 3. Codicology; 4. Writing: calligraphic and personal subjects; 5. The scribe; Appendix. Abbreviations, acrostics and the meaning of the Hebrew letters; Part III. The History of Books and Texts: 6. The life and death of manuscripts; 7. Libraries; 8. Questions of method: codicology and palaeography; 9. Texts, copies and text-editions; 10. Judgement on readings and the edition of texts; Part IV. Some Manuscripts: 11. Ten manuscripts: pictures and detailed descriptions.

Editorial Reviews

"...[a] very welcome and enormously valuable study... Superb prints and illustrations make this an especially attractive volume, as well as a superb introduction...a richly rewarding read." Religious Studies Review

"Sirat...is fully qualified to present to the scholarly community, students, and the general public something quite rare in Jewish Studies, a comprehensive, readable, and useful text that explores all facets of the world of medieval Hebrew manuscripts. From the mundane to the sublime, there is something for everyone—Hebraist and non-Hebraist alike—in these well-illustrated pages. In short we have an elegantly produced and superb introduction to the study of Hebrew manuscripts, their scribes, and their contents that will enlighten students and scholars alike... It is a book written by a master of the material with a sensitive eye and a sharp reed. It is a tribute to the book making craft and Cambridge University Press should be praised for its aesthetic production." H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online

"Hebrew manuscripts are a window into Jewish intellectual, religious and everyday life in the Middle Ages, Hebrew Manuscripts of the Middle Ages...by Colette Sirat, is the last word on this topic." Canadian Jewish News

From the Publisher