Johann Buxtorf, Impresario of Hebrew and Jewish Books

Johann Buxtorf was a Hebrew scholar of prodigious energy and learning who believed that Christian scholars must master not only the Hebrew Bible but also the entire range of Jewish writing. He surveyed a vast corpus of Jewish texts and used them to describe the customs and ceremonies of Ashkenazic Jews. Working as an editor and a censor, he strove – not always successfully – to produce editions of the Hebrew Bible and prayerbook that contained the best of Jewish learning but were purified of anti-Christian sentiments. This book uses unpublished sources of many kinds, from Buxtorf’s marginal notes in his Jewish books to letters to him in Hebrew from Jewish print professionals, to tell his story.

List of Figures
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments

Introduction
A Vocation for Hebrew

Chapter One
Johann Buxtorf Makes a Notebook
Chapter Two
Compilation and Observation in Buxtorf ’s Synagogue of the Jews
Chapter Three
Guides to Reading Jewish Texts: Buxtorf the Bibliographer
Chapter Four
In the Printing House: Buxtorf the Bookman
Chapter Five
Buxtorf and Censorship
Chapter Six
Tiberias: Buxtorf on the Masoretic Vowel Points and Accents

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Buxtorf ’s Conversations with Informants
Appendix 2.1 From Jüden Schul to Synagoga Judaica: The Additions of the
Younger Buxtorf
Appendix 2.2 The Letter of Shemaiah to Buxtorf the Younger
Appendix 3 Abraham Braunschweig’s Apology

Bibliography
Index