Non­fic­tion

Books Like Sap­phires: From the Library of Con­gress Judaica Collection

April 16, 2023

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.

Discussion Questions

Books Like Sap­phires: From the Library of Con­gress Judaica Col­lec­tion by Ann Bren­er, the Hebra­ic Spe­cial­ist at the Library of Con­gress from 2009 to 2022, is a book about books, patrons and col­lec­tions.” And, as the title por­tends, it is a gem. Why sap­phires, one might ask? We learn in Brener’s pref­ace that Hebrew writ­ers through­out the ages have used the image of sap­phires to describe the beau­ty of the Hebrew book and the clar­i­ty, sparkle of the Hebrew page.” Books Like Sap­phires high­lights only a frac­tion of the collection’s 250,000 objects and the selec­tion is based on Brener’s per­son­al … and per­ceived lit­er­ary or cul­tur­al inter­est.” From the great­est” of the Hebra­ic trea­sures in the col­lec­tion, the Wash­ing­ton Hag­gadah, to the heav­i­est”, the Arca Noe: The­saurus Lin­guae Sanc­tae Novus, Bren­er lyri­cal­ly pens each entry with an inti­mate knowl­edge of the mate­r­i­al as well as a con­ver­sa­tion­al ease and con­nec­tion to the read­er. As she pro­claims, she is indeed the shar­er-in-chief” of the col­lec­tion, and the book shines as a result.