Books Like Sapphires

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.

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. The Hebrew Bible
1. The Five Books of Moses: A Printing First, Bologna 1482
2. The Second Rabbinic Bible, Venice 1525
3. The Book of Obadiah: A Papercut from Jerusalem
4. Through the Ages with the Song of Songs
5. Amid the Alien Corn: The Scroll of Ruth through the Ages
6. Solomon, the Wise King
7. Raising the Curtain: The Washington Scroll of Esther
8. A Bezalel Scroll of Esther

II. The Literature of the Sages
9. A Commentary on Psalms from 1477
10. Moses of Coucy’s Book of Commandments
11. Duties of the Heart, Naples 1489
12. Jewish History at the Crossroads: Ibn Sina’s Qanun of Medicine
13. Of Fathers and Sons: Isaac Abravanel’s Na?alat Avot
14. Adam and Eve in the Land of the Sultans: An Anecdote of Bookselling History
15. Scandal in Sixteenth-century Crete: The Case of Kasti Delmedigo
16. Unicorns in the Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress
17. A Gathering of Grace: Rabbi Almosnino Preaches to Don~a Gracia Nasi
18. From Spanish Court to Ottoman Palace: The Printing Press of Reyna Nasi
19. For Every Purpose: Benvenida Abravanel Receives a Dedication
20. Painted Secrets of the Hebrew Calendar
21. Talmud Frankfurt on the Oder, 1697

III. Hebrew Prayer Books
22. The Washington Haggadah
23. The Barcelona Prayer Book, Salonica 1527
24. The Augsburg Prayer Book, 1536
25. The Artist as Rain[bow] Maker: A Miniature Prayer Book from Germany
26. Shingly: The Lost Jewish Kingdom of India

IV. Hebrew Language & Literature
27. Ma?barot Immanuel: A Masterpiece is Born
28. The Poetry of Plagiarism
29. Noah’s Ark Comes to Renaissance Italy
30. Israel Najara: “Sweet Singer of Israel”
31. The Lips of Sleepers: A First in Hebrew Bibliography
32. The Battalion of Defenders of the Hebrew Language
33. “The Parade in White Passed by”: Ra?el Bluwstein
34. A Mother’s Prayer before Dawn

V. Children’s Books
35. A Hebrew Tom Thumb by Hayyim Nahman Bialik
36. Saplings: A Hebrew Periodical for Children, Moscow 1917
37. A Hebrew Fox Fable for Children
38. Temerl: Celebrating the Power of the Book
39. The Goose and Her Goslings, Jerusalem 1925

VI. Life in the Jewish Community
40. From the Mouth of Books: A Hebrew Play from the Yeshivah of Padua
41. From Mantua to Venus: Hebrew Wedding Poems from Italy
42. An Empress Recovers from Smallpox: A Special Prayer Service for Maria Theresa
43. The Rivers Sing to the Emperor: A Hebrew Victory Ode for Joseph II
44. A Small Town in Holland: Dedicating a New Synagogue
45. How Not to Bless the Tzar: Dedicating a New Synagogue
46. Elegy for a Crown Prince

VII. Out of the Ashes: The Story of a Collection
47. Out of the Ashes: The Story of a Collection

Endnotes

Appendix: Special Collections in the Hebraic Sections