First Impressions

Who makes a book, the author or the publisher? Joseph Skloot studies a classic of medieval Jewish literature, Sefer Hasidim, to answer this old question in a new way. He takes the reader into two printing houses, one Jewish and one Christian, and shows how each of them framed and transformed the book, giving it an author and sometimes rewriting its text, in their editions. A classic of medieval spirituality that remained labile in manuscript, Sefer Hasidim took on the form it would retain for centuries in the inky hands of correctors. This lively and learned book is a tour de force of book history, rich in textual and human detail.

Recent research has revealed that what we call Sefer Hasidim was composed from a loose collection of a variety of earlier “treatises” and “text blocks” without any coherent organization. In this groundbreaking study, Skloot demonstrates convincingly and in detail how this loose collection became a book in the proper sense of the word only during its printing process.

By employing the scholarly paradigm of microhistory, the author masterfully ...sheds light on broader questions surrounding the early days of the printing press. ... By zooming in on these particular editions, the author provides valuable insights into the interplay between Jewish literature, the printing press, and the complex socio-cultural landscape of the time.