Book Notes: The Jews in Spain and Portugal: a bibliography, Robert Singerman

<plain_text><page sequence="1">JEWS IN IBERIA The Jews in Spain and Portugal: a Bibliography, by Robert Singerman. (Gar? land Reference Library of Social Science, Vol. II.) Garland Publishing Inc., New York and London, 1975, pp. xiv+364: cloth boards $30. This volume, comprising no fewer than 5,051 entries in typewriting, lithographically repro? duced, is stated to be 'an attempt to bring under bibliographic control a wide range of published materials pertaining to the Jewish presence in Spain and Portugal from antiquity to the present day'. The introduction goes on to warn us that the 'coverage' (sit venia verbo) does not extend to the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s and their descendants in the Old and New Worlds. I suppose we can accept this, since it is within the strict frame? work of the title. It seems a bit irrational, though, to have excluded also 'the general areas of Biblical exegesis, Hebrew grammar, litera? ture and poetry, Jewish philosophy and rabbi? nical literature'. But more irrational still was to have left out 'general works dealing with the Inquisition and its history, development and practices'. This, for many of us, will seem rather like playing Hamlet without the prince, and leave us with a big gap. For this we are referred to the bibliography of E. van der Vekene published already thirteen years ago. Yet in fact, if you look up in the Index Lea's History of the Inquisition, it appears under General History, while Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (1965), is quoted only under the heading of 'Blood Purity'. To have given us the whole and entire range of the material, with the inclusion of what has been excluded, would have probably greatly postponed the appearance of this work, which still has very great and obvious usefulness, and</page><page sequence="2">Book Notes 257 greatly increased its already heavy price. Perhaps the author will consider undertaking the omitted areas in a further supplementary volume and increase our indebtedness to him. R.D.B.</page></plain_text>