The Hebrew Book: An Historical Survey by Raphael Posner; Israel TaShema

Review by: Herbert C. Zafren

The Library Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Jul., 1976), pp. 307-308
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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 REVIEWS 307
points raised here are doubtless side issues in a work aimed primarily at a German
public, and they do not impair the utility of Widmann's book. Volume 2 is awaited
with anticipation. One printing error should be noted. The Catholiconof Johannes
Balbus was not written in 1486 (p. 59).
Robert E. Cazden, Universityof Kentucky

The HebrewBook:An HistoricalSurvey.Edited by RAPHAEL POSNER and ISRAEL TA-

SHEMA. Foreword by JACOB ROTHSCHILD. New York and Paris: Leon Amiel; Jerusa-
lem: Keter Publishing House, 1975. Pp. 225. $25.00. ISBN 0-8148-0597-3.
A substantial comparison of The Hebrew Book with the 16-volume EncyclopediaJudaica
(EJ) (Jerusalem, 1972) reveals how thoroughly dependent the former is on the latter.
The "Introduction" says that appropriate information was "gathered, re-edited and
re-organized"; but, except for largely inconsequential word changes, introductory
paragraphs, and connective words and phrases, a very high percentage of 11 of the 12
chapters is taken virtually verbatim from the EJ.
This is not the place to review the EJ. The American Library Association Reference
and Subscription Books Review Committee (of which I was then a member) pub-
lished its review in the Booklist69 (November 1972): 209-12, where it generalized that
the EJ contains "an inexcusably large amount of material written or edited at a less
than satisfactory level of reliability." What is most disconcerting is that so much of the
writing in the EJ, while not absolutely inaccurate, is misleading or not informative. A
statement linking the Boston Public Library to the New York Public Library and the
Library of Congress (The HebrewBook,p. 223) wrongly implies an equality of caliber
of their Jewish departments; another (p. 220) implies that there are only three large
congregational libraries in the United States; in a list of manuscript collections (p. 37)
University Library at Los Angeles is mentioned as though there is only one there.
These mistakes of emphasis and fuzziness abound in the EJ, and they have unfortu-
nately been taken over into The Hebrew Book.
The new material, except for chapter 4, is not identified. Since the illustrations of
The Hebrew Book are not listed and those in the EJ are poorly listed, it is difficult to tell
how many, if any, of the color plates are new; many of the title-page facsimiles in
black and white are. The illustrative material is the highlight of the book in terms of
both aesthetics and message.
Chapter 4, entitled "The Science of the Hebrew Book," is Ta-Shema's survey of the
state of Hebrew bibliography, his summary of work that needs to be done, and his call
for "organized academic research." The chapter is legitimately one knowledgeable
person's view. It is, however, marred by many minor errors; for example, there are
four spelling errors in the citation of a work of mine (p. 66); the Jewish Theological
Seminary is incorrectly listed (p. 68) as a library with a printed catalog (Harvard's
Hebrew Division is meant, as the EJ correctly records it); and M. Slatkine's name is
misspelled (p. 74).
The "Reading List," another feature "new" to the book, is terribly flawed. Many of
the entries cited as books are in fact articles in or offprints from, journals; there are
citation errors; and the selection is weak. One can hardly explain the absence of
Steinschneider's name and anything in Yiddish when Widmann and an Italian work
are included.
Was enough pertinent material brought over from the EJ to the The Hebrew Book?
One misses any real discussion of Hebrew paleography in the early chapters that
cover writing, the scribe, scrolls, the Torah, and detailed aspects of illumination. In
the chapters on printing history, major centers, and Hebrew printers, one misses data

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308 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

on Hebrew printing in Paris, Strasbourg, Danzig, and New York, though material
can be found in the EJ. But, in general, the gleaning job is good.
What is troublesome is the reorganization of the data. For example Prague Hebrew
printing is broken up and divided among 3 chapters because it is part of the survey of
Hebrew printing history, is listed as a major center, and has several of its printing
families described in the chapter on printers. This encyclopedic rather than mono-
graphic kind of organization occurs over and over. The compilers claim that they
avoid duplication (footnotes on pp. 121 and 149), but they duplicate frequently and
they disrupt the continuity because the very structure of their book defeats them.
The authors of the original articles should have been credited! It is simply not
enough for Posner and Ta-Shema to be "entirely responsible for the material as it
appears" (introduction) and take over with little or no change what others labored to
produce.
The Hebrew Book lacks the bibliographies that go with the articles in the EJ, so the
novice who wants more on a small subject is lost. There are no footnotes, so the many
questionable facts and generalizations cannot be checked. The "Reading List" has
already been described as inadequate. Perhaps worst of all, there is no index and there
are only a few cross-references.
In a sense, The Hebrew Book is a nonbook. It is a weakly edited spinoff from an
encyclopedia, which will look attractive on a coffee table. It will impart much undoc-
umented information written by unnamed authors. It is neither narrative nor ency-
clopedic. It is obviously meant for the English reader, but is so non-America oriented
that the United States receives only half a column in the history chapter and no
American city appears among the major centers (not even New York), while the likes
of Aden, Halberstadt, Homburg, and Seini are included. Yet it is the only work in
English, other than the EJ, that has brought so much material on the Hebrew book
together in one place, and it does excel in illustrations. It is my judgment that a better
book could have been written even within the self-imposed restrictionsof using only
the EJ; but of course there is no reason to impose such restrictions.
The Hebrew Book is not recommended to anyone who has access to the EJ. For
others, The Hebrew Book is recommended with the sighing remark: it could have, and
should have, been better.
Herbert C. Zafren, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Instituteof Religion, Cincinnati

Harvard College Library, Department of Printing and Graphic A ris. Catalogue of Books and
Manuscripts. Pt. 2: Italian 16th CenturyBooks. Compiled by RuTH MORTIMER. 2 vols.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1974. Pp. xvii + 840.
$75.00. ISBN 0-674-46960-7.
Ten years after the publication of Miss Mortimer's French 16th CenturyBooks (Cam-
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1964) there appear two com-
panion volumes which describe in great detail 559 editions of Italian sixteenth-centu-
ry books. The total number of items included is actually larger, since frequent
references are made to further editions owned by the Department of Printing and
Graphic Arts or other libraries, especially at Harvard. The quality of this catalog is
remarkably high. The author has examined each copy carefully and compared it
frequently with those which she inspected here and abroad. In the course of her work
she has discovered a very large number of variants, a finding which should make
librarians wary of disposing of duplicates without careful examination. Major atten-
tion has, of course, been paid to often-detailed description of illustrations, but without
neglecting attention to authors, contents, imprints, the makeup of the volumes, or

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