Category Archives: Book restoration

Leopold Muller Memorial Library

The Library is moving during the summer vacation into central Oxford, for more information about how this will affect readers see our previous blog post or contact Library staff: muller.library@ochjs.ac.uk.
As we prepare to move we have also been looking back into the history of the Library at Yarnton Manor.

The Library

The Library

Forty Years ago: 1974
The centre was established in 1972 and moved to Yarnton Manor in 1973/1974. The Barn was converted into a Library space and it has been the home of the main Library ever since. Whilst still in Oxford the Library acquired the Kressel Library (25,000 volumes) and the Kressel Archive(over half a million items), which formed the basis of the Library’s collection.

Thirty Years ago: 1984

A further consignment from the Kressel collection was received between 1982 and 1985.For the Library this period was and space became an increasing issue. These problems are strongly expressed in the annual report about the library 1984/1985: ‘There are 30 tea-chests and 14 cardboard boxes full of books as well as innumerable heaps of books on the floor, and yet very little spare shelving to put them on. The situation has dictated a strategy of the ruthless disposal of all duplicate copies, and even the withdrawal from the shelves of older books superseded by recent scholarship’.

 

Our reading rooms

Change of name…
At a ceremony in October 1992 the Library changed its name to the Leopold Muller Memorial Library after receiving £1 million donation from the Leopold Muller Estate.

 

Twenty Years ago: 1994
The Library had grown and many of the materials, including the Qumran collection and the Kressel archive were moved to the Exeter Farm site, which was purchased by the centre in 1991/1992.
At the time the library lent only to Manor residents, and proudly reports loaning 2,012 books during the academic year.

B  010

Ten Years ago: 2004
The Library completed a major milestone in the completion of the online western language catalogue, as part of the Oxford University Library Catalogues (OLIS).

In 2004 Louis Jacob’s extensive library of over 14,000 volumes was donated to the library. Particularly noteworthy are the section on Kabbalah, mysticism and Hasidism, areas which the library was previously lacking. The collection made the Leopold Muller Memorial library an outstanding place for the study of rabbinic Judaism. The collection is used extensively and in 2013 an Oxford Seminar in Advanced Jewish Studies (OSAJS) was held at the centre drawing together international scholars to research. The seminar, ‘Orthodoxy, Theological Debate, and Contemporary Judaism: Exploring Questions Raised in the Thought of Louis Jacobs’ ran from January to June and the library curated an s archive to coincide with the project.

periodicals

2014
This year the Library put together an exhibition to showcase the the Western Hebrew Library rare book collection deposited on long-term loan from the New West End Synagogue. This collection will complement the library’s growing rare book collection. The Library contains an outstanding collection of early modern Hebrew prints.

W F823

The library will be moving this summer and we look forward to welcoming you to our new home.
Watch this space for 2024!

A.Rosenthal Ltd. Antiquarian Bookseller: Collection

The Oxford based firm A. Rosenthal Ltd., specialises in selling Judaica and Hebraica related books. The antiquarian book seller deposited some of their back catalogues, card catalogues, ledgers and book plates amongst other things to the Leopold Muller Memorial Library.

Rosenthal compiled book catalogues of rare and unusual material and grouped them into specific subject areas. Including these two catalogues pictured.

catalogues

The catalogue of ‘Sixteenth Century Hebraica’ was a list of books intended to be sold together as a complete collection. The collection included Hebrew books printed between 1505 and 1609. Rosenthal created this collection, in collaboration with Bernard M. Rosenthal in New York. The books were not part of a previous collection; instead the booksellers brought together books that they perceived to be valuable and also rare. The description of the collection highlights the uniqueness of the texts chosen, favouring first editions, as well as only including books that were complete and in good condition despite their age. The books in this catalogue were mostly printed in Italy, although there are also books from rare presses in Greece and Italy. Catalogues such as this provide valuable insights and information into early Hebrew printed books, but also the antiquarian book trade in the twentieth century.

ledger

The Rosenthal collection also includes company ledgers and sales books, which include many famous names within the field of Jewish studies. Other related items such as letters and book plates are also part of the collection.

Book plate1 book plate 2

A restored incunabulum – Naḥmanides, Ḥiddushe ha-Torah

Ramban among others
This edition of Nahmanides’ commentary on the Pentateuch from 1489 was the first book printed in Lisbon. It was published by two rabbis, Samuel Zorba and Eliezer Toledano and preceded the first Latin book printed in Lisbon by some six years. Toledano’s printing house was one of the earliest to use borders in his publications. His Nahmanides’ commentary has a beautiful inhabited floral border around first page. The frame was designed by a Christian printer and engraver, Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba originally for a Hebrew Bible published in 1486 and 1487 by Eliezer ben Abraham ibn Alatansi and Solomon ben Maimon Zalmati in Híjar, Spain. For operating a printing shop with Jewish connections, Fernando was sentenced to death in absentia in Valencia.
W B1i opening2
During the long life of this book, it must have been detached from its binding and remained unprotected. As a consequence, it lost several leaves from the beginning and the end. In 1954, the volume was restored: the missing leaves were replaced by photographic facsimile from another copy and it was rebound in a beautiful leather binding preserving it for the future. (Shelfmark W B1i)

First opening with engraved border  (facsimile leaves)

First opening with engraved border (facsimile leaves)

 

Opening with a facsimile leaf on the right and original on the left side.

Opening with a facsimile leaf on the right and original on the left side.