In surprising frequency I find myself holding a book in my hands that has no record in any library catalog or bibliography that I referenced. One such title I just cataloged is titled
אהבת הגרים : איינע וואודרבארע גשיכטע דעש ניקאלייער גר צדק ר' יוסף
printed in 1907 in Krashnov. I found no record of this printing and I found no record of the printer of this title printing any other works "בדפוס המשובח של י. ק. דייטשער נ"י מקראשנוב".
The book records the story of a certain Yosef who converted to Judaism
in the 18th century, passed away in 1807 and was buried in the town of
Nikolay. An 1816 publication published in Breslau first recorded the
account of this convert, but I was able to find very little information
on him outside of these publications.
While the Nazi's plans for the murder of Jews is common knowledge, their systematic attempt to destroy and plunder Jewish Libraries throughout Europe is well documented though less known. Every title as such that I can save and find a library to acquire gives me a minor pleasure at my little revenge at the Nazis.
Approx. 10% of the titles that I am cataloging from this era I find only 1 or no known copies in libraries. I estimated that for every book that just one copy remains, an equal amount have no remaining copies. Naturally, some books have thousands of existing copies and most titles are someone in between. This is not a perfect calculation but as best as I can come up with.
The ones that I found over the years that were unrecorded run the gamut, but several factors raise the possibility that a title would be lost: private, limited runs, often printed via Mimeograph or other "crude" printing methods. Fiction seems to be much less likely to survive, particularly serialized publications that came out in pamphlets. Much of the popular Yiddish pulp fiction of the late 19th century is very rare and scarcely seen. Ladino literature printed in the Balkans and Greece, communities which were permanently decimated by the Nazis, I have found a surprising amount of Ladino that has not been recorded, despite much effort to save such things in recent years. Newspapers is another field, many small towns had brief stints of Yiddish or Hebrew papers, by nature these publications were disposable, and I suspect that many disappeared without a trace
While the Nazi's plans for the murder of Jews is common knowledge, their systematic attempt to destroy and plunder Jewish Libraries throughout Europe is well documented though less known. Every title as such that I can save and find a library to acquire gives me a minor pleasure at my little revenge at the Nazis.
Approx. 10% of the titles that I am cataloging from this era I find only 1 or no known copies in libraries. I estimated that for every book that just one copy remains, an equal amount have no remaining copies. Naturally, some books have thousands of existing copies and most titles are someone in between. This is not a perfect calculation but as best as I can come up with.
The ones that I found over the years that were unrecorded run the gamut, but several factors raise the possibility that a title would be lost: private, limited runs, often printed via Mimeograph or other "crude" printing methods. Fiction seems to be much less likely to survive, particularly serialized publications that came out in pamphlets. Much of the popular Yiddish pulp fiction of the late 19th century is very rare and scarcely seen. Ladino literature printed in the Balkans and Greece, communities which were permanently decimated by the Nazis, I have found a surprising amount of Ladino that has not been recorded, despite much effort to save such things in recent years. Newspapers is another field, many small towns had brief stints of Yiddish or Hebrew papers, by nature these publications were disposable, and I suspect that many disappeared without a trace
When you find such a book, do you do Something special with it or you just put in inthe shelves to be sold? Maybe scanning ot would be good (?)
ReplyDeleteI generally try to find an institution that will acquire it, so it can find a permanent home
DeleteMany national libraries are the main collectors of books and periodicals published by that country or community. Shouldn't the National Library of Israel be the focal point for only surviving
Deletecopies?
We do indeed work with the National Library of Israel and generally send them such books, though unfortunately they have a rather limited budget and subject to the whims of the politicians..
Delete