The Ecclesiastical Censorship of Books, 1400–1800
An Exhibition at Bridwell Library, September 20 – December 17, 2010
THE
INDEX OF EXPURGATIONS
47.
[Book of Psalms in
Hebrew]. Sefer Tehillim. Commentary by
David ben Joseph Kimhi, corrected by Jacob Baruch
ben Judah Landau. Naples: Joseph ben Jacob Ashkenazi
Gunzenhauser, 4 Nisan 5247 (28 March 1487).
Hebrew books suffered extensive expurgation beginning in 1555 with the papacy of Paul IV. Although there were no printed indexes for censors of Hebrew books during the sixteenth century, four manuscripts of the Sefer Hazikuk (“Book of Expurgations”) compiled by the converted rabbi Domenico Irosolomitano (c. 1552–1621) survive. The papal censors, primarily Jewish converts to Christianity, used the Sefer Hazikuk to expurgate thousands of passages from the Talmud and other Hebrew texts and commentaries.
In
the exhibited fifteenth-century edition of the
Hebrew Psalms, the texts of the Psalms, printed in
large letters, are accompanied by the often
anti-Christian commentary by Rabbi David Kimhi
(1160–1235) in smaller type. Several words of the
commentary on Psalm 73 were inked out by a censor
who added his “correct” readings in the margins.
Extensive glue stains indicate that a later censor
covered the entire passage with paper, but this more
intrusive censorship was removed by a subsequent
owner.
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