Selected Hebrew Manuscripts from the Bavarian State Library

By Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, in collaboration with Yaffa Levy, Michal Sternthal, Ilona Steimann, Anna Nizza-Caplan and Estherlee Kanon-Ebner.

Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag Publishers, 2020.
XLVIII, 570 pages

The Hebrew manuscripts collection in the Bavarian State Library in Munich is of utmost importance, because it unravels the intricately close associations between Jews and Christians: Jewish scribes and converts writing for Christian humanists; Christian artists painting for Jewish clients; and Jewish artists working in Christian workshops. The book deals with 84 selected Hebrew manuscripts: 30 illuminated manuscripts and 54 manuscripts of the collection which belonged to Johann Jacob Fugger, some of which are illuminated. It is not merely a catalogue, but a deep research of every manuscript which includes extensive examination of its codicology, paleography, texts and illustrations, as well as the research on the manuscripts’ history and their Jewish and Christian owners. The iconography and style of each illumination which appears in the manuscripts is scrutinized and compared to its parallels in other manuscripts, to determine place and date. In order not to make this book too voluminous, all illuminations in the manuscripts and their comparative material are available on-line, in the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art at the Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Harrassowitz Verlag