Almost one thousand years ago, the Jews of Old Cairo began to place their worn-out books and scrolls into a hidden storage room – a genizah – of their synagogue. Over the years, they added all sorts of writings to the pile, sacred and secular texts alike. When the chamber was emptied at the end of the 19th century, it held hundreds of thousands of paper and parchment fragments. Now known as the ‘Cairo Genizah’, it has become one of the most important sources of knowledge for the history of the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. This book offers the first illustrated introduction to the unique collections of Cairo Genizah manuscripts at Cambridge University Library.

Join Genizah experts Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee as they take you on a journey of discovery through more than 125 years of research at the University of Cambridge, showcasing over 300 stunning, full-colour manuscript images across 12 thematic chapters. From ancient Bibles to medieval magic and Renaissance printing presses, The Illustrated Cairo Genizah reveals the forgotten stories of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities at the centre of a millennium of world history.

Endorsements

“This book is a superb overview of the rich diversity of the contents of the Cairo Genizah. It is inspiring for all, specialists and non-specialists, by the attractiveness of its production with superb colour images and the clarity of the learned comments on the manuscripts.”

--Geoffrey Khan, Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge

“People in my line of work have been waiting their whole careers for a Genizah coffee table book, and it has finally arrived. Marvels await you. A single, all but vanished group of Jews survives in the world’s imagination because they left an extraordinary number of written traces. If you want to know more about them, this is the book for you. If you want to know why anyone would devote themselves to studying ancient, tattered, dusty and often illegible manuscript fragments, this book will not just tell you but show you with copious images. If you already know the manuscripts and the history and the community they document, you’ll still be humbled by the commitment of the librarians, conservators and scholars whose labor has made them legible for the future. (And of course there’s a cat fragment.)”

--Marina Rustow, Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East and Professor of History, Princeton University

"The Illustrated Cairo Genizah is an utterly transporting presentation of original materials that range across centuries, oceans, cultures, and languages. The Arabic and Islamic sources are presented with great insight, and now and again, you’ll read a line that simply takes your breath away."

--Professor Kristina Richardson, John L. Nau III Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy, Professor of History and Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages and Cultures University of Virginia