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CRYSTAL, ELLENBOGEN / AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
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with language, literature , and history and all Yiddish literature
regardless o f place o f publication; also acquired fo r the Lehmann
Library are all Israeli titles on the social sciences, particularly
those dealing with the politics o f the Middle East and Israel.
HEBREW RARITIES
T he Rare Book and Manuscript Library contains over 1,000 o f
the earliest or most im po r tan t o f the Hebrew books in the Colum
bia collection. Included he re are twenty-eight incunabula as well
as books p r in ted by the Soncino family, Bomberg, di Gara,
Zanetti, Bragadini, and others, and many from such places as
Constan tinop le, Prague, Crackow, Riva di T ren to , Mantua,
Bologna, Venice, Padua, etc.
Also housed in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library is the
Spinoza Collection. This collection, which was purchased for
Columbia in 1947 by Simon Milner, Mrs. Thomas Lamont, Cor
liss Lamont and Christian Zabriskie, consists o f over 3,900 vol
umes by and about Baruch Spinoza. It was formed by a union o f
the private collections o f Adolph S. Oko, formerly librarian o f
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, and Dr. Carl Gebhart. Oko’s
The Spinoza Bibliography
(Boston, G.K. Hall, 1964) is a classified list
o f the collection. Columbia also holds a collection o f app rox
imately 600 items o f correspondence from the files o f Oko and
G ebhard t relating to Spinoza and the collection.
Scholars wishing to know more about Columbia’s manuscript
collection should consult Dr. Isaac M endelsohn’s
Descriptive
Catalogue o f Semitic Manuscripts (mostly Hebrew) in the Libraries o f
Columbia University
(available th rough University Microfilms, Ann
Arbor, Michigan). Microfilm copies o f more than ha lf o f the most
im po rtan t manuscripts are available to scholars th rough the Insti
tute o f Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts o f the Jewish National
and University Library. T he Jewish Division o f the New York
Public Library also has a series o f microfilms o f a smaller selection
o f manuscripts from the collection. Books and manuscripts are
available at Columbia to qualified scholars who should make
application in advance o f visiting by writing to the Librarian for
Rare Books and Manuscripts (Columbia University Libraries, 801
Butler Library, New York 10027).