Come to Special Collections to look at and learn about a spectacular book recently acquired by Special Collections.

UCSC Special Collections has recently acquired a facsimile of one of the world’s most important medieval Jewish manuscripts, the North French Hebrew Miscellany.

The manuscript was written and lavishly illustrated in northern France in about 1280 at a time of upheaval for the Jews of Europe. Comprising almost 1500 pages with 84 different groups of texts, this small volume served as a portable library. The texts include scripture, daily prayers, mahzor, the Passover Haggadah, religious poetry, blessings, calendars, formularies for legal deeds and the earliest known copy of Isaac de Corbeil’s Sefer Mitsvot Katan, composed in 1277. Three to five artists worked with the scribe to decorate and illuminate the manuscript, most likely in or near Troyes. It is now housed in the British Library.

Please join us on  to welcome this wonderful addition to Special Collections – the facsimile will be on display and Professors Sharon Kinoshita and Gildas Hamel will share their expertise with us.