Prince of the Press: How One Collector Built History's Most Enduring and Remarkable Jewish Library (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300234909)

David Oppenheim (1664-1736), chief rabbi of Prague in the early eighteenth century, built an unparalleled collection of Jewish books and manuscripts, all of which have survived and are housed in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. His remarkable collection testifies to the myriad connections Jews maintained with each other across political borders, and the contacts between Christians and Jews that books facilitated. From contact with the great courts of European nobility to the poor of Jerusalem, his family ties brought him into networks of power, prestige, and opportunity that extended across Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Containing works of law and literature alongside prayer and poetry, his library served rabbinic scholars and communal leaders, introduced old books to new readers, and functioned as a unique source of personal authority that gained him fame throughout Jewish society and beyond. The story of his life and library brings together culture, commerce, and politics, all filtered through this extraordinary collection. Based on the careful reconstruction of an archive that is still visited by scholars today, Joshua Teplitsky's book offers a window into the social life of Jewish books in early modern Europe.

Author: Joshua Teplitsky
ISBN-10: 0300234902
ISBN-13: 9780300234909
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/22/2019
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2018 pg. 111