Happy Chanukah all. I am not an actual librarian but I am cataloguing the book collection of a local synagogue that was once renowned as a place of Torah study (Chevra Mishnayes in Winnipeg). The collection includes many volumes of Talmud and other Jewish religious texts that, according to their title pages, were printed in places such as Vilna (Vilnius), Warsaw, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe before the holocaust. Their publication dates range from 1819 to early in the twentieth century.
However, at least some volumes that at first glance are nineteenth-century editions are in fact twentieth-century reprints. They are "photocopied" from the originals by one printing process or another (I don't know anything about printing techniques!) A few clearly say in an additional printed notice on the title page that they are reprints. Many of the books have a stamp (not printed) on the title page staying "Made in Austria". Since Vilnius and the other cities mentioned on the title pages were never in Austria (or even Austria-Hungary) I am thinking this means they were reprinted there at a later date. From my little bit of knowledge of Jewish book history I am thinking these were post-WW II reprints for the use of religious Jewish displaced person / holocaust survivors? However, other volumes have no such information at all but there are clues that tell me they are reprints - for example, when it looks pretty clearly as if a page of the original was folded over at the corner, and so that corner in the edition we have is blank, cutting through words. A lot of the books have some beautiful red lettering on the title page. I was thinking that could be an indication of an original rather than a reprint (which I would expect to be in black and white) but just the other day we found one of these books that does have red lettering, with a little stamp, "Austria", so now I am thinking that is not a reliable indication after all. As for the look and feel of the books, all the pages look and feel "old" to me... though the high school student who has been assisting me has noticed difference in texture: the print seems "flatter" in some books than others. Many thanks for any advice! Justin Justin Jaron Lewis https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://justinjaronlewis.ca__;!!KGKeukY!2uhgNKmgf-Tg-RiEyADb7fN2Fv-lWjn0lEM-KxIMuV80i0w5S8W1Kk3J0tBORwFmyCCcN8spWasfYJoG_lhmRDiNeUWdKmMH2zY$ Associate Professor, Judaism 332 Fletcher Argue Building Department of Religion University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Anishinaabe / Metis Land
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