A Companion to the History of the Book (29 page)

References and Further Reading

Adorno, Rolena (1986) “Literary Production and Suppression: Reading and Writing about Amerindians in Colonial Spanish America.”
Dispositio
, 11: 1– 25.

Calvo, Hortensia (2003) “The Politics of Print: The Historiography of the Book in Early Spanish America.”
Book History
, 6: 277–301.

Castro-Klarén, Sara and Chasteen, John Charles (eds.) (2003)
Beyond Imagined Communities: Reading and Writing the Nation in Nineteenth-century Latin America.
Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center.

Chocano Mena, Magdalena (1997) “Colonial Printing and Metropolitan Books: Printed Texts and the Shaping of Scholarly Culture in New Spain, 1539–1700.”
Colonial Latin American Historical Review
, 6 (1): 69–90.

Cobo Borda, Juan Gustavo (ed.) (2000)
Historia de las empresas editoriales de América Latina, siglo XX. Santafé de Bogotá: CERLALC
.

Earle, Rebecca (2004) “El papel de la imprenta en las guerras de independencia de Hispanoamérica.” In A. Soto (ed.),
Entre tintas y plumas: historias de la prensa chilena del siglo XIX.
Santiago de Chile: Universidad de los Andes, Centro de Investigación de Medios Andes, Facultad de Comunicación.

Fornet, Ambrosio (2002)
El libro en Cuba, siglos XVIII y XIX
. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas.

Glass, John B. (1975) “A Survey of Native American Pictorial Manuscripts.” In H. F. Cline (ed.),
The Handbook of Middle American Indians
, vol. 1, pp. 3–80. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Guerra, François-Xavier and Lempérière, Annick (eds.) (1998)
Los espacios públicos en Iberoamérica: ambigüedades y problemas, siglos XVIII y XIX
. Mexico: Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos and Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Guibovich Pérez, Pedro (2001) “The Printing Press in Colonial Peru: Production Process and Literary Categories in Lima, 1584–1699.”
Colonial Latin American Historical Review
, 10 (2): 167– 88.

Hallewell, Laurence (1982)
Books in Brazil: A History of the Publishing Trade.
Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow (
O livro no Brasil: sua história
, 2nd rev. edn. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 2004).

Leonard, Irving (1992)
Books of the Brave: Being an Account of Books and of Men in the Spanish Conquest and Settlement of the Sixteenth-century New World
(intro. by R. Adorno). Berkeley: University of California Press (originally published 1949).

Martínez, José Luis (1986)
El libro en Hispanoamérica: orígen y desarrollo
. Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez and Ediciones Pirámide.

Medina, José Toribio, Feliú Cruz, Guillermo, and Zamudio Zamora, José (1958)
Historia de la imprenta en los antiguos dominios españoles de América y Oceanía
. Santiago de Chile: Fondo Histórico y Bibliográfico José Toribio Medina.

Mignolo, Walter (1998)
The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization
. Durham: Duke University Press.

— and Boone, Elizabeth Hill (eds.) (1994)
Writing without Words: Alternative Literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes.
Durham: Duke University Press.

Molina Jiménez, Iván (1995)
El que quiera divertirse
:
libros y sociedad en Costa Rica (1750–1914)
. San José and Heredia, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica and Editorial de la Universidad Nacional.

Oudijk, Michel and Castañeda de la Paz, Maria (eds.) (forthcoming)
Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians,
vol. 7:
A Census of Meso-american Pictographical Manuscripts
and vol. 8:
A Census of Indigenous Alphabetical Manuscripts
. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Prieto, Adolfo (1988)
El discurso criollista en la formación de la Argentina moderna.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.

Rama, Angel (1981) “El boom en perspectiva.” In D. Viñas et al. (eds.),
Más allá del boom: literatura y mercado
, pp. 51–110. Mexico: Marcha Editores.

— (1996)
The Lettered City (Post-contemporary Interventions)
, trans. John Charles Chasteen. Durham: Duke University Press (originally published as
La ciudad letrada
. Hanover, NH: Ediciones del Norte, 1984).

Rivera, Jorge B. (1998)
El escritor y la industria cultural
. Buenos Aires: Atuel.

Rostagno, Irene (1997)
Searching for Recognition: The Promotion of Latin American Literature in the United States.
Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Sagastizábal, Leandro de (1995)
La edición de libros en Argentina: una empresa de cultura.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires.

Subercaseaux, Bernardo (1993)
Historia del libro en Chile: alma y cuerpo.
Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello.

Torre Revello, José (1940)
El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española
. Buenos Aires: Jacobo Peuser.

Vázquez, Josefina (ed.) (1988)
Historia de la lectura en México.
Mexico City: El Colegio de México.

11

The Hebraic Book

Emile G. L. Schrijver

The term Hebraic book is considered here to refer to books, scrolls, and single sheets copied or printed in the Hebrew alphabet. Thus, a Hebrew book need not necessarily be in the Hebrew language. In the pre-medieval period, Aramaic had gradually become the second language of the Jews; all important Aramaic dialects used by the Jews were written in the Hebrew alphabet. Also, Jews in the Diaspora used to write their everyday language in Hebrew characters. Besides Hebrew, the most important “Jewish languages” are Yiddish, Ladino (so-called Judeo-Spanish), and Judeo-Arabic.

Jews have always displayed great interest in their literary heritage. Among the earliest handwritten Hebrew sources known are the Dead Sea Scrolls, found in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran (south of Jericho) from 1947 onward. The scrolls, which were written between approximately 200 bc and ad 100, contain biblical texts, biblical interpretations, apocryphal and pseudepigraphical texts, hymns, and many other texts dealing with the organization of the community and with its specific customs and beliefs (Tov 1993; Parry and Tov 2004–5).

Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts

Later Hebrew manuscripts and thousands of fragments were found in the “Genizah” discovered toward the end of the nineteenth century in the Fostat synagogue in Cairo. As one is not allowed to destroy the divine name, religious books and other documents containing the divine name, and often simply all remnants of Hebrew books, are stored in a
genizah
(Hebrew: storage). Most important among the Genizah manuscripts are the greater part of the Hebrew text of the Book of Ben Sira, old manuscripts of classical rabbinical texts, thousands of known and unknown religious and secular poems, material relating to the history of Karaism, sources on the history of the Jews in the region, and autographs of great Sephardic scholars like Judah Halevi (before 1075–after 1140) and Moses Maimonides (1138–1204). One of the major methodological problems of the Genizah sources is that the state of early medieval Hebrew paleography does not yet permit accurate dating; it is assumed that some of the manuscripts date back at least to the seventh century ad (Richler 1990: 112–34).

There are two important reasons for the absence of Hebrew manuscript sources from the period of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the seventh, eighth, or ninth centuries. Time and persecutions destroyed many Hebrew books, and there is reason to assume that during that period there still existed a genuine oral transmission of texts, which would mean that there were simply not as many books as one might perhaps expect. Compared with their non-Hebrew counterparts, Hebrew manuscripts appeared relatively late in the Middle Ages, but from approximately the tenth century onward there is firm ground on which to stand. By that time, the codex had definitively established its leading position as the most popular form of handwritten text. The use of papyrus had been abandoned, while the practice of writing on a scroll was continued for certain biblical texts only (Sirat 1985; Beit-Arié 1993a, c).

The earliest date mentioned in a colophon of a Hebrew manuscript is 895. The manuscript, known as the Moses ben Asher codex, was produced in Tiberias; it contains the text of the Prophets and is now housed in the Karaite Synagogue of Cairo. Codico-logical research by Mordecai Glatzer, however, has revealed that this manuscript, including the colophon, was copied at least a century later from an older (now lost) exemplar. Since Glatzer’s refutation of the authenticity of the date mentioned in the colophon of the Ben Asher codex, a manuscript consisting of fragments of the text of Nehemia, kept in the Genizah Collection of Cambridge University Library and written in Da Gunbadan, Persia, in the year 904, is considered to be the earliest known dated Hebrew manuscript. The earliest dated Hebrew manuscript larger than a fragment is a codex of the Latter Prophets with Babylonian vocalization, finished in 916, which now reposes in St. Petersburg (Beit-Arié 1993c).

Whereas the earliest Hebrew manuscripts were produced in the Orient, in later centuries all regions of the Jewish Diaspora developed their own traditions. Hebrew manuscripts are therefore usually classified into geographical groups: Ashkenazic (England, Germany, northern and central France; later on, northwest Europe in general), Sephardic (Spain, Portugal, southern France, part of North Africa), Italian, Byzantine (Turkey, Greece, and the surrounding countries), and Oriental (the Middle East and beyond). Within the Oriental group, Yemen and Persia are sometimes considered as separate groups. (The word “Sephardic” is often incorrectly used to conflate Mediterranean and Oriental Jewries.) Hebrew books elucidate the varying circumstances under which the Jews of the Diaspora lived in the medieval period. Many Hebrew manuscripts ended up being burnt. Furthermore, professional Jewish scribes often had to change their place of residence under the pressure of anti-Jewish political developments. Their travels exposed scribes to new artistic influences and to new fellow practitioners (Beit-Arié 1981).

There is no proof that during the Middle Ages there existed anything approaching the institutionalization of the production of Hebrew manuscripts comparable to a Christian scriptorium. In the words of Malachi Beit-Arié (1993a: 11):

Colophons and random historical sources, including some documents found mainly in the Cairo Geniza, attest that Hebrew manuscripts were produced either by single professional scribes, or, more often, by learned men who copied the texts for their own use. Yet it is now clear that a considerable number of Hebrew manuscripts – about one tenth of the surviving dated medieval ones – were copied by more than one hand, usually by two, or three, but sometimes by more, up to ten hands. As the colophons of the manuscripts copied by several hands refer almost without exception to one scribe, who in most cases did indeed copy the major part or parts of the manuscript, one should assume that the additional hands were either sons or relatives of the main scribe, or students of a scholar, who assisted him in copying.

This demonstrates a fundamental difference between medieval Hebrew and Latin books. Latin works from the late seventh until the mid-thirteenth centuries were usually produced in multi-copyist scriptoria, while in a later period they were reproduced by university stationers according to the
pecia
system or in commercial workshops. Beit-Arié proves statistically that at least half the medieval Hebrew books were “personal user-produced books, copied by the scholars who were going to use them” and not by hired scribes. This fact sheds light on the transmission of Hebrew texts, as a hired scribe may be more vulnerable to mistakes caused by the copying mechanics, while an individual copyist is more likely to make deliberate changes to the text he is copying. These facts have certainly influenced the editions of many Hebrew texts (Beit-Arié 1993 b; 19 93 c : 79 – 103, 119 – 24; morege nerally: Alexander and Samely 1993).

The Decoration of Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts

The decoration of medieval Hebrew manuscripts has drawn the attention of scholars since the late nineteenth century. Most studies concentrate on perhaps the most hackneyed theme in Jewish art history: namely, the question of whether Jewish art was allowed to exist during the Middle Ages. It is evident that the second commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image,” did not result in a total rejection of art; it was forbidden to “bow unto them [and to] serve them,” but it was generally permitted to produce them, especially two-dimensionally. Of course, a visual representation of God was strictly forbidden.

Hebrew decorated manuscripts from different regions share certain distinctive features. In Ashkenaz,
Haggadot
and prayer books were especially popular; in these manuscripts one often finds bird and animal heads instead of human heads, while in many other manuscripts people are depicted with their heads turned backward. This is not the place to discuss the backgrounds of these practices, but it is obvious that the artists were sensitive to the second commandment. In Sepharad, one encounters a multitude of exquisitely decorated manuscripts from the thirteenth century onward, and in most of these the artists were not concerned with the second commandment. The manuscripts produced in the so-called Lisbon School in the last third of the fifteenth century, of which more than thirty are extant, are an important, although not the only, exception; there, figural art is uncommon. Italian manuscripts, especially those from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are the most abundantly decorated Hebrew manuscripts ever produced. Besides representational art, many manuscripts show a strong tendency toward elaborate multicolored floral decoration. In the Orient, abstract ornamentation of Hebrew manuscripts was most common; the artists usually refrained from a visual representation of human beings.

The text, which was copied by the scribe, was usually considered the most important part of the manuscript. There are examples of scribes who explicitly mention that they were themselves responsible for both the copying and the decorating of a codex; occasionally one may even find an artist’s colophon, but in most cases the identity of the artist remains unknown. Artists were, of course, strongly influenced by the surrounding cultures. Although the actual background of the production of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts is not very clear, especially since contemporary documents are scarce, it is certain that both Jews and non-Jews were responsible for the decoration (Roth 1971; Metzger 1982; Narkiss 1984; Gold 1988; Melker et al. 1990; Richler 1990; Karp 1991).

Hebrew Scripts

There are many different types of Hebrew scripts. The most important modes were: the monumental square script, the somewhat less monumental semi-square script, the semi-cursive book hand, and the cursive script for everyday use. The geographical classification of Hebrew manuscripts mentioned earlier – distinguishing between Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Italian, Byzantine, and Oriental (with Yemen and Persia as separate groups) – is also used for Hebrew scripts. This means that there are dozens of different types of Hebrew script.

The widespread use of Hebrew scripts over a period of at least two millennia, and the fact that the traditional division into modes does not suit all types and periods, are the main reasons why a clear definition of all the different types and modes is still lacking. A further complication is the fact that the historical process behind the development of the shapes of Hebrew scripts, especially of the cursive mode, is often unclear due to the scarcity or lack of early book hands. It is evident, therefore, that the final word on the development of Hebrew script in the medieval and post-medieval periods has not been uttered yet, and may never be. All the same, the Hebrew Palaeography Project’s new series of paleographical atlases may shed some new light on at least the medieval period (Beit-Arié et al. 1987; Beit-Arié 1993c; Beit-Arié and Engel 2002).

The Hebrew Printed Book

Hebrew printing started in Rome, with six books printed sometime between 1469 and 1473, most likely by “Obadiah, Manasseh, and Benjamin of Rome.” Their first production was David ben Joseph Kimhi’s dictionary
Sefer ha-shorashim
. It was followed by Solomon ben Abraham ibn Adret’s collection of
Responsa
; Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi)’s,
Commentary on the Pentateuch
; Levi ben Gershom’s
Commentary on the Book of Daniel
; Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome’s Talmudic dictionary,
Arukh
; and Moses ben Nahman’s
Commentary on the Pentateuch
. The first printed Hebrew book with an explicit mention of a date was Solomon ben Isaac’s commentary on the Pentateuch, finished on February 17, 1475 in Reggio di Calabria. There are a total of 139 editions of Hebrew books that were almost certainly printed before January 1, 1501. These Hebrew
incunables
were printed on about forty presses, all active in the Mediterranean area: in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and one in Turkey (Offenberg 1990).

In the first half of the sixteenth century – that is, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1496 respectively – the most important Hebrew printing presses were situated in Venice, Mantua, Sabbioneta, Cremona, and (outside Italy) in Constantinople and Salonica. Ashkenazic centers of importance were Cracow, Augsburg, Basle, and Prague. After the Antwerp printer Daniel van Bomberghen, who had close contacts with Christopher Plantin’s circles, established his printing press in Venice in 1516, Italy and particularly Venice determined the face of sixteenth-century Hebrew printing. During that century, close to nine hundred Hebrew books were published in Venice alone.

A particularly interesting aspect of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italian Hebrew book is the near omnipresence of inquisitional censorship. From the second half of the sixteenth century onward, Christian censors (often converted Jews) would check all Hebrew books, would often sign them after checking, and expurgate passages that were considered negative toward Christianity. Apart from the obvious anti-Jewish stance of the Inquisition, one of the most prosaic explanations for this censorship may be financial: Jews, both printers and private owners of books, were expected to pay for the work of the censor. Among the most important censors were Dominico Irosolimitano, Camillo Jaghel, Hippolitus Ferrarensis, Giovanni Dominico Carretto, and Giovanno Domenico Vistorini. Christian censorship also led to active Jewish self-censorship. But Christian interest in Hebrew printing was not always negative. The humanist ideal of
eruditio trilinguis
gave rise to a large number of Hebrew books, mostly linguistic studies and Bible editions and commentaries, but also less obvious literary works, printed by Christian printers in important centers like Basle, Antwerp, Leiden, and Paris. These printers would usually hire Jewish typesetters and editors, who often maintained close intellectual contacts with the Christian authors.

In the course of the seventeenth century, Amsterdam took over Venice’s leading role in Hebrew book production. The first Jew to print in Hebrew in Amsterdam was Menasseh ben Israel. His first Hebrew production, a daily prayer book, appeared on January 1, 1627. In this work Menasseh’s corrector, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, mentions the fact that the newly cut Hebrew types were based on letters written by the local Sephardic scribe Michael Judah Leon. Menasseh ben Israel printed a large number of books, not only for the newly established Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam, but also for the Western and Eastern European market. Other Amsterdam printers of importance were Immanoel Benveniste, Uri Fayvish ben Aaron Halevi, David de Castro Tartas, and the members of the printing dynasties of Athias and Proops.