Books Like Sapphires: From the Library of Congress Judaica Collection($50.00Value)

Description

Illustrated highlights from the Judaica Collection of the Library of Congress.   Books Like Sapphires showcases a wide range of Hebraic treasures from the storied collection at the Library of Congress, many of them for the first time. Tracing the history of Judaica collecting in the twentieth-century United States, the book illuminates varied works, telling their stories alongside vibrant color images. These include a unique manuscript about a betrothal scandal in Renaissance Crete, an illustrated Esther Scroll, a poem from 1477 celebrating the new technology of printing, amusing rhymed couplets in sixteenth-century Padua, and the Washington Haggadah. This book also tells the story of the patrons and collectors, first among them Jacob Schiff, as well as archivists and curators, who made the storied Judaica archive at the Library of Congress the precious resource that it is today. “A jewel of a collection. . . . [Brener’s] knowledge of these books and the stories that surround them attest to her profound grasp of what makes these texts exciting.” ― Jerusalem Report “ Books Like Sapphires is a splendid tableau laying bare Jewish book culture as an integral part of Jewish culture. . . . Expertly curated and handsomely illustrated . . . offering hours of edification and pleasure.”  ― CCAR Journal “A magisterial folio-sized volume. . . . [ Books Like Sapphires ] is a resource for scholars of both early modern religious life and literature and historians of the book. Nonspecialist readers, too, will appreciate the liveliness of Brener’s prose and the book’s design and illustration.” ― Sixteenth Century Journal “Brener has produced a beautiful book that presents the treasures from the Library of Congress’s Judaica holdings in their best light. . . . As a detailed catalogue and study of each of these texts, Books Like Sapphires is a superb book.”  ― AJA Journal “An introduction to the field through the lens of a particular collection, exceptionally readable and well-presented. A book that is fresh and compelling, a total pleasure to read.” -- Marc Michael Epstein, Vassar College, author of Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts “A well written and interesting view on a selection of Hebraic rara. A beautiful and highly useful means of communicating the treasures that are known only to a few scholars to a wide, interested public.” -- Katrin Kogman-Appel, University of Münster, author of Illuminated Haggadot from Medieval Spain: Biblical Imagery and the Passover Holiday “A jewel of a collection. . . . [Brener’s] knowledge of these books and the stories that surround them attest to her profound grasp of what makes these texts exciting.” ― Jerusalem Report “ Books Like Sapphires is a splendid tableau laying bare Jewish book culture as an integral part of Jewish culture. . . . Expertly curated and handsomely illustrated . . . offering hours of edification and pleasure.”  ― CCAR Journal “An introduction to the field through the lens of a particular collection, exceptionally readable and well-presented. A book that is fresh and compelling, a total pleasure to read.” -- Marc Michael Epstein, Vassar College, author of Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts “A well written and interesting view on a selection of Hebraic rara. A beautiful and highly useful means of communicating the treasures that are known only to a few scholars to a wide, interested public.” -- Katrin Kogman-Appel, University of Münster, author of Illuminated Haggadot from Medieval Spain: Biblical Imagery and the Passover Holiday Ann Brener served as the Hebraic Specialist at the Library of Congress from 2009–2022. Prior to that she taught Medieval Hebrew Poetry at Ben-Gurion University in Israel and published two books on the subject, Judah Halevi and His Circle of Hebrew Poets in Granada and Isaac ibn Khalfun: A Wandering Hebrew Poet of the Eleventh Century . She lives in Columbia, South Carolina.