Two of our latest acquisitions to the library. We continually add to our collections, covering a range of geographic areas, academic fields and Chronological periods.
Jane S. Gerber, The Jews in the Caribbean. Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2014
Mehrdad Amanat, Jewish Identites in Iran: Resistance and conversion to Islam and the Baha’i faith. London: I. B. Tauris: 2011
See the Recent Acquisitions shelf in the Library for more new publications.
The term is now in full swing and we have enjoyed welcoming many new faces to the library. It has been a busy time in the Library, alongside the inductions, and our on-going projects we have also started an intensive process of cataloguing rare books so that they become searchable on SOLO. This enables researchers to search our rare book collection remotely and request books in advance of their visit. The project is in preparation for the 2015 Advanced Seminar to be held in Yarnton: Jewish Books in Amsterdam 1600–‐1850: Authors, Producers, Readers and the Construction of Jewish Worlds January to June 2015. Applications for fellowships close on 8th January 2014. http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Jewish-Bks-in-Amsterdam-OSAJS-info.pdf
Highlight from the Copenhagen Rare Books Collection: Epitome thesavri lingvæ sanctæ
Epitome thesavri lingvæ sanctæ (Pagnini, Sante, 1470-, Raphelengius, Franciscus, 1539-1597 ; Moretus, Balthasar, 1574-1641 ; Moretus, Jan, 1576-1618 . ( Antwerp? : Ex Officina Plantiniana Raffelengij: M. D. CXVI [1616])
The Epitome thesavri lingvæ sanctæ was previously owned by Copenhagen (see Ex Libris), but prior to his ownership it was held at Ely Cathedral (See Library Stamp).
The records that are being produced for SOLO contain provenance detail as well as information about binding and the publishing houses that produced it. See this book on SOLO http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=OXVU1&docId=oxfaleph019581575This month Zsofi and Jane have also spent many hours in the stacks rearranging and moving our archival collections including the Gryn collection, the Copenhagen archive and the Kressel archive. This will improve the time it takes from requesting these materials to them being delivered to the reading Room. For more on these collections: http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/mullerlibrary/collections/
Meanwhile Jane has been cataloguing new acquisitions, and donations including: Alan Mintz, Sanctuary in the Wilderness: A critical Introduction to American Hebrew Poetry (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012). This book is on one of the class reading lists for the Hilary Term taught by Dr Adriana Jacobs, who is the new fellow in Modern Hebrew Literature at the Centre http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/2013/07/fellow-in-modern-hebrew-literature-appointed/ To see the rest of the books on her course search ‘Jacobs Reserve’ on SOLO (select Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies first).
Alan Mintz, Sanctuary in the Wilderness
Donation from Bernheim Library
Recently we have received several donations, including a great collection of books about the Holocaust from the Library of Pierre Antoine Bernheim and donated in his memory. The collection enhances our already extensive Holocaust and Yitzkor sections of the Library. Mr Bernheim’s collection also features many unusual French books about the Holocaust.This week we are also welcoming our new students and visiting academics, and the library induction for students is tomorrow, Thursday 10th October at 11am.
This term the centre is welcoming new members of teaching staff, who will be teaching classes such as Sandals and Threshing Floors: Medieval Jewish Bible Interpretation and the book of Ruth, Israel: State and Society and Topics in Modern Hebrew Literature, 1900-present. Using the course bibliographies the librarians have put together a reserve shelf for each class, including some new additions to the Library with the latest up-to-date publications and research.
Latest publications on new course lists
Here are some featured books from this year’s courses:
We are very grateful to the family of Pierre Antoine Bernheim for this wonderful collection. Highlight’s from his library include:
Donations from Bernheim Library
Toleration within Judaism, Martin Goodman, Joseph E. David, Corinna R. Kaiser and Simon Levis Sullam (Oxford: Littman Library, 2013)
Co-authored by our Professor of Jewish Studies, Martin Goodman, this latest publication from the Littman Library traces the concept of toleration within the Jewish faith over the past 2000 years. This book does not present a warm and sentimental form of Tolerance and harmony, but is a frank and honest portrayal of toleration and at times tensions within the Jewish community. This book acknowledges the diversity within Judaism and explores the ways in which these differences have been negotiated, including Josephus’ representation of the Sadducees and Pharisees. Goodman writes that Josephus avoids going into great detail about the relationship between differing Jewish Philosophies, and suggests that this was an act of diplomacy. Goodman concludes:
Kaiser in the final chapter examines the increasing use of tripartite seating patterns in today’s Jewish community, which allow multiple Jewish denominations to worship in accordance with their own beliefs simultaneously. This chapter explores the effect of this changing notion of toleration, namely that religious practise is more personalised and therefore more fragmented. Furthermore that tolerance becomes voluntary rather than enforced which can polarise some religious groups.
We constantly receive new titles in English and Hebrew; these are available from the ‘New acquisitions’ bookcase at the entrance to the reading room and can be borrowed. The books are frequently rotated so remember to check the shelves regularly. Here are some other new books in our English collection:
Jewish Symbols and Secrets: A Fifteenth-century Spanish Carpet, Anton Felton (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2012)
A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury: The life and times of Samuel Koleliansky, Gayla Diment (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011)
Süssen is now free of Jews: World War II, the Holocaust, and Rural Judaism, Gilya Gerda Schmidt (New York: Fordham University Press, 2012)
The Pinnacle of Hatred: The Blood Libel and the Jews, Darren O’Brien (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2011)