Fun Finds from the German Judaica Project

As the German Judaica Intern for the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, I have had the opportunity to work with a number of rare and interesting materials. I am currently processing a collection of German Judaica books dating from the late eighteenth century through the twentieth century. These materials represent a range of topics, including prayer books, histories of the Jewish people, commentary in German on Jewish religious texts, Zionism, and works on the “Jewish question.” My job is to catalog these books so that they can be made available to the public. Over the course of this project several books have piqued my interest, and I would like to share them with you.

The first are two pictures from the book Die Israelitische Bibel, a mid-nineteenth century illustrated Hebrew and German Bible with annotations by Ludwig Philippson.

Die Israelitische Bibel

The second book is titled Das Judische ABC. It is a dictionary of sorts about key figures and events in Jewish history, covering topics such ranging from the patriarch Abraham to authors such as Martin Buber.

Das Judische ABC, with entries from the letter “H.”

The final book I would like to highlight is a prayerbook. A number of these types of books have been cataloged, including holiday prayer books and daily prayer books. Many of them are in Hebrew, and have elegant covers and pages lined in gold leaf.

Prayerbook from the collection.

The collection as a whole is extensive and an excellent addition to the Duke Library. My hope is that through cataloging these materials, more people can have access and utilize them in their research.

Post contributed by Crystal Reinhardt, intern for the German Judaica Project in Rubenstein Technical Services.

Reminder: The Rubenstein Library is closed until Jan. 7!