JEWISH STUDIES:

Part 1: Rare Printed Sources from the Parkes Collection, Southampton University Library

Publisher's Note

The Parkes Library at the University of Southampton is recognised as one of the most important collections in Britain for the study of Jewish History. Based on the working library of the Revd Dr J W Parkes (1896-1981), a founder member of the Council of Christians and Jews, the Library includes some 14,000 books, 2,500 pamphlets and 360 periodical titles. Many of the items are extremely rare, especially those collected by Parkes in the 1930’s when he was working for the International Student Service in Europe.

Part 1 of this project offers 95 rare printed sources from the Parkes Library, covering three major themes.

The first theme is the history of Jewish communities throughout Europe. Parkes had a particular interest in this area which formed the largest section of his own library. He felt that the growth of anti-semitism in the 1930’s and 1940’s could in part be understood by studying the history of local Jewish communities and their historic relationships with their host countries.

Volumes in this fiche edition include:

• G Y Geitel - Gesuch der bekenner des Judischen Glaubens im Braunschweig (1831)
• M Levy - Die Sephardim in Bosnien (1911)
• Bondy/Dworsky - Zur Geschicte der Juden en Bohmen, Mahren & Sclesien (1906)
• A de Voltaire - Lettres de quelques Juifs, portugais, allemands, polonais (1828)
• I Bedarride - Les Juifs en France, en Italie et en Espagne (1859)

Numerous additional volumes cover this same theme and provide accounts of Jewish communities living in France, Poland, Germany, Portugal, Rumania and Russia.

The second theme amplifies the first by providing detailed sources concerning the rights and status of Jews in Britain. Material covering this topic ranges from:

• An Historical Treatise concerning Jews and Judaism in England (1753 – one of a number of tracts and pamphlets dated around this period, at the time of the British Jew Bill which offered naturalisation for Jews living in Britain)
• C Egan - The Status of Jews in England…([1066-1845] (1848)
• F H Goldsmid - Arguments against the enfranchisement of the Jews (1833)
• W T Gidney - Alien (Jewish) Immigration (1905)

The third theme documented is the History of Palestine.

This is covered by general works such as:

• J Milner - A Collection of the Church History of Palestine (1687)
• The Zionist Organization - Great Britain, Palestine & the Jews: A Survey (1918)

as well as by travel narratives, for instance:

• J Caro - Travels…East of Syria and Palestine (1825)
• Bonar/McCheyne - Narrative of a Visit to the Holy Land and…to the Jews (1878)
• J Ramsay MacDonald - A Socialist in Palestine (1922)
• H Samuel - Unholy Memories of the Holy Land (1930)

As can be seen from these few examples, the material covers a broad time range, spanning from 1680 to 1923. The range of imprints is equally wide and places of publication encompass London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Augsberg, Bayreuth, Braunschweig, Cannstadt, Frankfurt, Göttingen, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Neustrelitz, Regensburg, Zurich, Prague, Breslau, Riga, Krakow, Lyon, Nancy, Orleans, Sarajevo, Coimbra, Pesth, Cambridge, Monmouth, Edinburgh, Sydney, Den Haag and Wien.

These rare printed sources will enhance the holdings of any library collecting in the area of Jewish studies. They will permit a better understanding of the history of local Jewish communities scattered throughout Europe, as well as of the history of Palestine and the destined homeland of the Jewish people.

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