Program
The Hebrew Book in the Western Mediterranean:
13th to 16th Centuries
International Conference
Monday, March 5
Sessions in Sala Menéndez Pidal, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, CSIC.
9:00-9:30 Registration and Coffee.
9:30-9:45 Opening remarks.
9:45-11:00 Session 1: Hebrew Manuscript Production.
(Chair: Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University).
- Colette Sirat (EPHE and IRHT, CNRS), “Studia of Philosophy as Scribal Centers in 15th-Century Iberia.”
- Malachi Beit-Arié (Hebrew Palaeography Project, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Commissioned and Owner-Produced Manuscripts in the Sephardic Zone and in Italy in the 13th to 15th Centuries.”
11:00-11:30 Coffee.
11:30-13:30 Session 2: Identifying, Dating and Locating Hebrew Manuscripts.
(Chair: Esperanza Alfonso, CCHS, CSIC).
- Stefania Silvestri (CCHS, CSIC and University of Venice Ca’ Foscari), “15th-Century Hebrew Bibles from Seville.”
- Judith Schlanger (EPHE and La Sorbonne University), “Sephardic and Provençal Grammatical Manuscripts from the Bibliothèque nationale de France.”
- Judith Kogel (IRHT, CNRS), “Leʻazim as a Means to Locate the Place Where Hebrew Manuscripts Were Copied.”
13:30-15:00 Lunch (Cafeteria, CCHS).
15:00-16:45 Session 3: Hebrew Book Trading and Circulation.
(Chair: Aitor García Moreno, CCHS, CSIC).
- Nurit Pasternak (Hebrew Palaeography Project, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Buyers and Sellers: The Shaping and Dynamics of Hebrew Book Collections and the Trade in Hebrew Manuscripts in 15th-Century Italy. The Florentine Scene.”
- Joseph Hacker (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Iberian Jews: Collectors of Books in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Ottoman Empire (14th–17th Centuries).”
16:45-17:15 Coffee.
17:15-18:30 Session 4: Scribes and Scripts.
(Chair: Maite Ortega Monasterio, CCHS, CSIC).
- Emile Schrijver (Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, University of Amsterdam), “Sephardic Identities and Sephardic Scripts since the Invention of Printing.”
- Edna Engel (Hebrew Palaeography Project, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Immigrant Scribes’ Handwriting in Northern Italy from the Late 13th to the Mid-16th Century: Sephardic and Ashkenazi Attitudes towards Italian Script.”
Tuesday, March 6
Sessions in Salón de Actos, Biblioteca Nacional de España.
9:00-11:00 Session 5: Visualizing the Hebrew Book.
(Chair: Therese Martin, CCHS, CSIC).
- Eva Frojmovic (University of Leeds), “Between North and South: Some Thoughts on Jewish Visualities in the Kingdom of Mallorca ca. 1300.”
- Evelyn M. Cohen (Independent Scholar), “The Artist of the Barcelona Haggadah.”
- Katrin Kogman-Appel (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), “Cresques Abraham Reconsidered: Book Production and Map Making in Late Medieval Mallorca.”
11:00-11:30 Coffee.
11:30-13:30 Session 6: Crossing Linguistic and Religious Boundaries.
(Chair: Ryan Szpiech, University of Michigan).
- Sonia Fellous (IRHT, CNRS), “15th-Century Castilian Translations of Hebrew Literature.”
- David Stern (University of Pennsylvania), “The Sephardic Illustrated Haggadah and the Hebrew Bible in Iberia: Two Different Responses to Christian Culture in the Hispanic Kingdoms.”
- Philippe Bobichon (IRHT, CNRS), “From Hebrew Book to Latin Book. Raymundus Martini’s Pugio fidei (Late 13th Century): Manuscripts, Editions and Dissemination.”
13:30-15:00 Lunch.
15:00-17:00 Session 7: The Impact of Printing in Hebrew Book Production.
(Chair: Mercedes García-Arenal, CCHS, CSIC).
- Eleazar Gutwirth (Tel Aviv University), “From Manuscript to Print: Towards a Historical Perspective.”
- Adri K. Offenberg (Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, University of Amsterdam), “What Do We Know about Hebrew Printing at Guadalajara, Híjar and Zamora?”
- Shimon Iakerson (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, The Russian Academy of Sciences), “Unknown Sephardic Incunabula.”
17:00-17:15 Concluding Remarks.
17:15-19:30 Guided Visit to the Exhibition Biblias de Sefarad: Las vidas cruzadas del texto y sus lectores (two groups). Biblioteca Nacional de España, Sala Hipóstila.
20:30-22:30 Dinner.