iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

THEY GOT TO 2000 SUPPORTERS! Now in need of 3000 more in just under a year. LETS GO! #earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians

14624

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

OMG NO GOING TO SUPPORT IT RIGHT NOW

120

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

For this year's NEA Celebration of Collections, I'm excited to showcase scholars working on the Jews of Adrianople, German Kabbalah, & a "new" 16th c. imprint from somewhere in the Mediterranean (you gotta come to find out where!) 📚📜 Registration here: columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Flyer for a program on December 3, 2026 at 1 PM, with images of manuscripts, a printed leaf, and an image of a woman in Turkish robes

010

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Adam Shear @adamshear.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Great opportunity for @pittprovost.bsky.social undergraduates to spend next summer in NYC, free housing, to do original research on any topic in #Jewishstudies using @columbiauniversity.bsky.social libraries and other collections. Use QR code to sign up info session. @mmargolis.bsky.social

012

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Farley P Katz @farleypkatz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The colophon to the Catholicon, dated 1460, but actually printed in 1470, reads: By the help of the Most High, at Whose will the tongues of infants become eloquent, and Who ofttimes reveals to the lowly that which He hides from the wise, this noble book, Catholicon, in the year of the Lord’s (1/2)

221

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is super interesting, because I see similar language (without the aid of quill, etc.) in Hebrew incunabula! Although it could just be that that's what it was..

100

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This one? 😍 Per Iakerson, it was discussed by Steinschneider and Friedberg. In English, by Glazer in a Sign and a Witness, p. 80. But agreed - more is definitely needed!

130

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Aha! She does indeed (I'm looking at pp.21-25 in the digital edition, and there's lots - thank you again!)

040

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Oooo, that sounds really fun - looking forward to it!

020

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Soncino, Mishna, Naples, 1492: now that “God has awakened the spirit of wisdom,...he [man] will spread His [God’s] laws throughout the widespread exile... regarding the text itself: “...its beauty and its build, with quality to one who reads it, is a clear testimony to those who merit to buy it.”

110

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

There’s a LOT of waxing about print as a divine art (sancta ars) done by the humanists and scholars in Rome, particularly to and for the Pope’s reading. Margaret Meserve’s “Papal Bull” covers this a bit, and the primary sources I can think of are Giovanni Bussi’s 20 prefaces to his books c 1468-72

172

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Interesting. So they're putting them in prefaces rather than colophons. The Jewish printers have their poetry in colophons.

000

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Much ink has been spilled over the output of a press based on Avraham Conat's Pentatutech (Mantua), 1474-6 where he notes that he can produce “one thousand pages [or columns!] every day, twice, with love.”

130

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Eisenstein’s Divine Art, Infernal Machine surveys a bunch of statements from printers’ colophons. They are not as rapturous as one might assume, and certainly reflect the prejudices of the salesman pitching his wares. But the book has what you’re looking for.

281

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

1475 Arba'ah Turim, Piove di Sacco:

131

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Hey, #bookhistory people, especially those who work on incunabula: Do Christian printers wax poetic (literally) about the miracle of print? I've taken it for granted from the Hebrew printers (they have many wonderful poems on the glories of print), but this may have just been a Jewish thing..?

6153

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Ohhh, yes. It's where we know much of what we know about the Soncinos from their perspective! It's quite a long t.p. rant :)

020

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Poor Gershom Soncino. He laments how he (really his family's press) printed "23 masekhtot used in yeshivot, with Rashi and Tosafot...and behold the printer from Venice [Bomberg] printed from my press..." and scooped the Talmud. David Kimhi, Mikhlol, Constantinople, 1532-4 (B893.14 K572)

Printed title page of a book with a vegetal woodcut frame and text inside

1112

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Adam Shear @adamshear.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Do you have an idea for a case study on early Hebrew printed books that connects with the Footprints project? Apply to be part of a collaborative research and writing project. drive.google.com/file/d/1jG8h... #JewishStudies #Bookhistory

drive.google.com

CFA Footprints Collaborative Research Project.pdf

176

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I have the abridged (2005?) or so, and I'm quite enjoying it. Finding my notes from grad school are making it even more fun :)

020

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Re-reading Elizabeth Eisenstein for a thing (more soon? maybe) and I'm pleased to see that I'm remarkably consistent my readings of general book history over the course of 20+ years.

130

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

There you have it! Spain, 13th/14th c. (UTS MS 74) And you can page through the whole thing here: archive.org/details/ldpd...

062

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Interesting. Ours has a colophon to 1679 (the year of the Mawza' Exile, to which it refers as well: "forgive any mistakes, for in this year the synagogues at Sana'a were burned and we were sent to exile in the desert"). JTS has one too - second item here: grolierclub.omeka.net/exhibits/sho...

grolierclub.omeka.net

Yemen · Jewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts from The JTS Library · Grolier Club Exhibitions

Online exhibitions for The Grolier Club of New York.

162

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

It was published in a short-lived Yiddish journal of art and poetry called Khalyastre in Warsaw, 1922-1924 clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1847...

clio.columbia.edu

Making sure you're not a bot!

011

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

The first result is literally an image I had out for a class last week: Chagall's father's grave www.artic.edu/artworks/122...

Man lying on the ground next to/under a grave reading (in Hebrew) Yehezkel Chagall, with a Jewish star on the top and a bush (?) behind it.

173

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Stewart J. Brookes @stewartbrookes.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Thank you! A great group! And I bet you can identify at least one of the manuscripts 😎

3103

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Does yours also have the micrographic carpet page at the beginning? (MS General 364)

Decorative carpet page made from words (micrography)

Hebrew text on a page with diagonal writing crisscrossing the top, bottom, and sides.

0104

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

😍What's the date on the Yemenite one in the center? We have something similar.

141

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

What amazing art! What a great privilege to have access to this manuscript in the flesh, so to speak. f.130r digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/9e48...

163

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Love the detailed explanation of the Hebrew calendar (including the reforms of Hillel II and observation v. scheduled!): kalkal.online/calendars.ht...

kalkal.online

kalkal — Kalendarsistemoj

164

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Bittersweet to be at desk 1066 in BL manuscripts today

Brass plaque on a library desk reading “In memory of William
Noel | Crack on!”

6838

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

It's not so much in the control of the catalogers as in the control of the OPACS (and the admins making decisions about what to show), which keep suppressing more and more info from the records.

020

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Okay, not much of a soccer person (I live too close to the stadium to be happy right now), but this is AWESOME.

284

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Out of scope because it's a Latin Bible, but still, very cool - thank you for flagging!!

030

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Martina Mampieri @martinamampieri.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Transcribing and studying these letters offered a unique window onto connections linking Italy, Philadelphia, and the broader Jewish world, while highlighting the possibilities of #DH, #AI assisted research, collaborative transcription, and archival accessibility.

111

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Martina Mampieri @martinamampieri.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

As part of my internship at @katzcenterupenn.bsky.social through the JTS/AJL Certificate Program in Hebraica and Judaica Librarianship, I worked on the Italian correspondence of Sabato Morais (1823–1897), the Italian-born rabbi, educator, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in NY.

111

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Martina Mampieri @martinamampieri.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

What can 19th-century letters reveal about migration, identity, and Jewish networks? Last year at @upenn.edu, I worked on the Italian letters of Sabato Morais, tracing connections between Italy, Philadelphia, and the wider Jewish world. Read more here: www.library.upenn.edu/kislak/judai...

library.upenn.edu

Letters without Borders: Exploring the Italian Correspondence of Sabato Morais

Martina Mampieri reflects on her internship as part of the AJL/JTS Librarian Certificate program. Her internship focused on transcribing the writings and correspondence of Rabbi Sabato Morais and lear...

186

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Someone at a session today said that my 2012 exhibition ("The People in the Books": exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/exhibits/sho...) made him want to become a librarian (all those languages! Who knew Judeo-Tatar was a thing?!) and I'm not crying you're crying #AJLCon26

exhibitions.library.columbia.edu

Columbia University Libraries Online Exhibitions | The People in the Books: Hebraica and Judaica Manuscripts from Columbia University Libraries

0112

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I mean, doesn't everyone produce poetry and theatre for their synagogue dedications? PJ5051.T57 S5 1793 This was for the Tempio israelitico di Firenze. @perurealfonso.bsky.social :)

Red and black text of a play in Hebrew and Italian

1228

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Here is me, pleading with museum shops. We do not want yet another bookmark and eraser with your logo for 11 euros. We. Want. Replicas. Of. Your. Nerdy. Stuff.

241144368

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

HIGHLY recommend Yakov Mayer's talk proving that the Soncino Talmuds were printed explicitly for the zemanim in the Padua yeshiva - and thus shaped Talmud study everywhere based on the Ashkenazic method. Book production is so local: youtu.be/K3efnWomUrc?... H/t @hgot.bsky.social 📚📜#bookhistory

youtu.be

The Soncino Talmud and Late Medieval Hebrew Book Culture

YouTube video by Library of Congress

093

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Another woman, this time from 1542, with strong feelings about the Inquisition. Denounced in Lisbon for having said: "f*ck the Inquisition, f*ck those in charge of it and f*ck those who brought it [to Portugal] " (respondeu: merda pera a inquisicao e pera quem a manda e pera quem a tras).

14619

Reposted by Michelle Margolis

David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

The Fine Script Comparative approaches to legal marginalia circulating in Europe and the Middle East between 1100 and 1700 Where: Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris or online When: 31.8.-1.9.2026 Online registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fine-s...

eventbrite.com

The Fine Script

Conference exploring comparative approaches to legal marginalia circulating in Europe and the Middle East between 1100 and 1700

086

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The CU Archives always does a fabulous display for Reunion. I was chuffed to see Isaac Abrahams (first Jewish CU grad, class of 1774), and the map of NYC with "(N) College" outlined in red (King's was the only option) as well as "(&) Jews Synagogue" and "Jews Cemetery." @lauraleibman.bsky.social

082

Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

More on historical Jewish women scribing here: www.imj.org.il/sites/defaul...

imj.org.il

1279