A Treasured Legacy (II): Hebrew Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library

Abstract

This is the second part of a study of Hebrew manuscripts deposited in the libraries of Cambridge and Oxford Universities. The first part, focusing on the collection in the Bodleian, was published in Volume 20, July 2004 (pp. 95–116) of this journal. The collection of about one thousand Hebrew manuscripts at the Cambridge University Library is one of three most important collections in the United Kingdom, alongside those of those of the Bodleian Library, Oxford and the British Library. The manuscripts arrived at the Cambridge University Library first with the acquisition of collections of Christian Hebraists, but chiefly through an effort to acquire Hebrew manuscripts in the nineteenth century. With the publication of 'Hebrew manuscripts at Cambridge University Library: a description and introduction', by Stefan C. Reif (1997), we have for the first time access to the entire collection of Hebrew manuscripts preserved at the Library and we can fully appreciate how the present catalogue is not only a description and introduction to the collection of Hebrew manuscripts, but also how it can serve as model for other cataloguers to emulate.