Hebrew Incunabula in the Asiatic Museum of St. Petersburg

Abstract

SUMMARY The formation of separate collections of Hebrew incunabula–along with their scholarly description–plays an important role on the modern stage of Hebrew book scholarship. This article is devoted to the history of the largest Russian collection of Hebrew incunabula–the collection of the Asiatic Museum (modern name: St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences). This collection comprises the earliest printed books from two private collections, those of the merchant Lev Friedland and the Orientalist Daniel Chwolson, which were incorporated into the collection of the Museum at the end of nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The article includes a brief description of the books and fragments, along with their provenance and bibliography.