Books in a Medieval Household: Ashkenazi Book Collecting in Its Material Context

Abstract:The meanings of books and book collections are inscribed in their trajectories, their material forms, and the ways owners and users interacted with them. To shed light on these rarely addressed aspects of book culture, this article examines the tangible dimensions of Jewish book collections in medieval Ashkenaz. By analyzing a range of sources, including Ashkenazi booklists, registers of Jewish property compiled by Christians, and manuscripts that were owned by Ashkenazi Jews, it provides new insights into the material, spatial, and temporal factors that may have affected the dissemination and preservation of knowledge.