The Hebrew Book in Europe at the Dawn of Printing

The term “Incunabula” refers to books printed before 1501. The significance of Hebrew incunabula is hard to overestimate as they deeply affected the development of European book printing and enabled a deeper insight into Jewish spiritual life in Europe during the Renaissance.

To fully grasp Jewish culture in that period, it is vital to analyze the repertoire, as it were, of early Hebrew books as it displays critical developments in the book market and uncovers the spiritual interests and needs of the reading public during the second half of the 15th to the early 16th century.

This session includes a general introduction to the world of Hebrew incunabula in the context of codicology and paleography and the pivotal events of the year 1475.