Over the past two centuries, large, important collections of Hebrew manuscripts have been dispersed. Formerly private collections are now in public libraries; individual manuscripts and collections have changed hands; call-numbers have been altered; and, for some manuscripts, researchers have coined arbitrary numbers or used abridged signatures and cognomens. The first edition of Richler's Guide, published in 1994, answered the need for a systematic accounting of these wanderings, providing the reader with basic bibliographical information on the manuscripts cited in scholarly literature and with an important tool for locating them. Since then, new catalogues of important collections have been published, hundreds of manuscripts have changed ownership as private and public collections have been sold, and previously unknown manuscripts have been discovered. Thousands of manuscripts from Eastern Europe recently made accessible to researchers have now been catalogued, enabling the identification of manuscripts hitherto considered lost. Advances in technology have made it possible to trace the present locations of additional 'lost' manuscripts: The now-computerized catalogues of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts and other libraries enable complex searches, while the plethora of resources on the Internet and the ubiquity of electronic mail have facilitated the search for information. This new edition represents a complete update and expansion of the first edition of the Guide, including the appendixes pinpointing the present locations of thousands of manuscripts and collections. Benjamin Richler is the emeritus director of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (IMHM) in the National Library of Israel (formerly the Jewish National and University Library) in Jerusalem.

After the Bible, the Passover haggadah is the most widely read classic text in the Jewish tradition. More than four thousand editions have been published since the late fifteenth century, but few are as exquisite as the Washington Haggadah, which resides in the Library of Congress. Now, a stunning facsimile edition meticulously reproduced in full color brings this beautiful illuminated manuscript to a new generation. Joel ben Simeon, the creator of this unusually well-preserved codex, was among the most gifted and prolific scribe-artists in the history of the Jewish book. David Stern’s introduction reconstructs his professional biography and situates this masterwork within the historical development of the haggadah, tracing the different forms the text took in the Jewish centers of Europe at the dawn of modernity. Katrin Kogman-Appel shows how ben Simeon, more than just a copyist, was an active agent of cultural exchange. As he traveled between Jewish communities, he brought elements of Ashkenazi haggadah illustration to Italy and returned with stylistic devices acquired during his journeys. In addition to traditional Passover images, realistic illustrations of day-to-day life provide a rare window into the world of late fifteenth-century Europe. This edition faithfully preserves the original text, with the Hebrew facsimile appearing in the original right-to-left orientation. It will be read and treasured by anyone interested in Jewish history, medieval illuminated manuscripts, and the history of the haggadah.

For some five hundred years, Hebrew books have been counted among the treasures of the University of Cambridge, and Cambridge University Library's current holdings of Hebrew manuscripts (excluding most of the 140,000 fragments in its Genizah collections) are in excess of a thousand items. A wide range of Hebrew literature is represented, with substantial numbers in Bible, Bible Versions and Commentaries, Talmud, Halakhah, Liturgy, Science, Poetry, Philosophy and Kabbalah. The bulk of the material is late mediaeval but there are also earlier items, among them the famous Nash Papyrus from the second pre-Christian century. Although this collection is among the world's most important, attempts, beginning in the mid-Victorian period, to describe it in detail, and to publish the results, have never met with success. In this volume, Stefan Reif, assisted by Shulamit Reif, has attempted to set the situation right by providing careful descriptions that will guide researchers in codicologial matters and will alert them to data of special scholarly significance, without overwhelming them with the kind of prolix treatment that characterised manuscript study in the nineteenth century. The volume has benefited not only from local Cambridge expertise but also from world-wide scholarly co-operation and includes many references to recent publications, as well as a representative selection of photographed folios. There are essays on the history of Hebraists and Hebraic at Cambridge that will interest historians, as well as extensive indexes that will provide easy access to the rich and varied contents of the descriptions.

This is a comprehensive directory and bibliographic guide to Russian archives and manuscript repositories in the capital cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is an essential resource for any researcher interested in Russian sources for topics in diplomatic, military, and church history; art; dance; film; literature; science; ethnolography; and geography. The first part lists general bibliographies of relevant reference literature, directories, bibliographic works, and specialized subject-related sources. In the following sections of the directory, archival listings are grouped in institutional categories. Coverage includes federal, ministerial, agency, presidential, local, university, Academy of Sciences, organizational, library, and museum holdings. Individual entries include the name of the repository (in Russian and English), basic information on location, staffing, institutional history, holdings, access, and finding aids. More comprehensive and up-to-date than the 1997 Russian Version, this edition includes Web-site information, dozens of additional repositories, several hundred more bibliographical entries, coverage of reorganization issues, four indexes, and a glossary.