This research guide begins with an introduction to the academic discipline of the history of the early printed book, borrowing heavily from the research guide at the University of Cambridge, UK. In this way the researcher will see the parameters of the discipline as a whole and will gain a sense of the breadth of topics that may be studied. Following this brief general introduction, we present several topics relevant specifically to the study of the early printed Hebrew book from its beginning around the year 1470 through the seventeenth-century.
For every topic, in both the general and the Hebrew sections, you will find a bibliography arranged alphabetically by author, and the availability of the materials in the Penn libraries system, online, or from other academic libraries. In all cases, if an article or chapter of a book is in Hebrew, we give the English translation followed by [Hebrew] to indicate its language.
Please note that whereas the links to the Penn Libraries Franklin online catalog will work everywhere, there are to caveats to the links to online resources: some of the links to articles are limited to computers operating on the Penn network; and further, some of the links are accessible only to individuals with a PennKey.
