Michelle Margolis

Went back to repost my introduction but...I never did one. Hi, I'm Michelle. I'm the Librarian for Jewish Studies at Columbia University and I'll be talking about old Jewish books and manuscripts and libraries and occasionally digital scholarship. I once made a game about early Hebrew printing.

Open data makes me happy. Our friends at JudaicaLink took Footprints data and ran with it! web.judaicalink.org/news/footpri...

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

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...

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

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)

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

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.

Why should people who care about the future of tech think about the origins of print? @dzkalman.bsky.social and I discussed it on his fabulous podcast about religion and tech. (Also, highly recommend this podcast in general...) beliefinthefuture.com/episodes/a-d... #bookhistory #butalsoai

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)

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

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.

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

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...

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

Bittersweet to be at desk 1066 in BL manuscripts today

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

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.

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.

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...

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

@jewishlibraries.bsky.social people are the best people. That's all. #AJLCon26

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 :)

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.

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

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).

Carlo Ginzburg, Z''L. A historian of immense stature. lavocedinewyork.com/en/people/20...

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...

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

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

Gearing up to teach Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830, @ransomcenter.bsky.social for @rarebookschool.bsky.social next week. It’s gonna be hardcore, as all good bibliography is.

#ilikedirtybooks 😍

I love that our library has a pick up option, and also it feels like we're going back to closed stacks when I do it.

Well, this was a really really nice way to start #JAHM. I am truly honored. www.libraryjournal.com/story/michel... @libraryjournal.bsky.social

Yep. When you digitize old stuff, you now have to look after the original artifact *and* it's digital surrogate. "Just put everything online" is not the labor-saving flex laypeople think it is.

Okay, I'm not the best photographer, but stumbling across a 1909 set model (for "Herod") in the Brander Matthews collection while looking for a shortcut through the rare stacks was kind of awesome.

I'm a big fan of Mark Podwal's work, which so often nods to historic bookmaking and art. On the right, Podwal's "Omer Calendar," on the left, a page from a Sefer 'Evronot ("Book of Calculations," MS X893 Se36) from 17th century Germany showing hand calculations.

Pop Leo asked if he should put on gloves to turn pages in the gorgeous Renaissance Bible and the librarian explained why it’s better to do so with bare hands. Glorious reaction. Every rare books librarian & archivist feeling very seen, I gather. www.instagram.com/reel/DUcpEBY... #BookHistory

#EarlyModern #BookHistory #JewishHistory

Went to pull Pieter van der Cun's De republyk der Hebreen (Amsterdam, 1701-4) for our class next week on Christian Hebraism and was once again stunned by the gorgeous colored and gilded pages. Here are a few for your enjoyment. B893.11 C911

It's taken far too long, but I'm so glad that I finally sat down to read @theodunkelgrun.bsky.social's incredible book on the Plantin Polyglot. It's on so much more than that - a whole chapter on Bomberg (those matrices 😍) lots on the burning of the Talmud/beginning of expurgation, & so much more!

Here's my new blog post about Jewish dance cards and a recent UCL bicentennial event where we learned Edwardian ballroom dances from a Jewish dance card in @uclhjslibrary.bsky.social to the same tunes that were performed in 1909. #UCL200 In partnership with @uclhjs.bsky.social and the UCL IJS.