Books Like Sapphire: Hebrew Treasures from the Library of Congress

Join us for a special conversation with Ann Brener, former Hebraic Specialist at the Library of Congress, about her new book, Books like Sapphires.

Brener will show pages of rare books and manuscripts to share a wide range of lesser known gems from the Library’s collections: Hebrew poems celebrating an empress’ recovery from smallpox; a unique manuscript attesting to a betrothal scandal in sixteenth-century Crete; early illustrated children’s books from revolution-torn Moscow; and many more. The renowned “Washington Haggadah” will be presented during this lecture.

The author will trace the beginning of her work at the Library of Congress and focus on some of these lesser-known treasures, among them an illustrated Esther Scroll from the eighteenth century; a synagogue dedication that finds a way not to bless the Tzar; and, from Baroque Italy, a really charming Hebrew play (with speaking Talmudic treatises!) that appears to be one of the very first Hebrew plays ever written.

Ann Brener (Ph.D. 1999, Cornell University) served as the Hebraic Specialist at the Library of Congress from 2009-2022. Prior to that she taught Medieval Hebrew Poetry at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. In addition to two academic books on her area of specialty, Brener has also published two historical novels: “Samuel’s Daughter,” set in ancient Parthia, and “The Autumn of Watteau,” which takes place in 18^th-century France and Colonial Louisiana.