Jewish Bookplates

In answer to an inquiry about Jewish Bookplates by a student of Information Science at Bar Ilan University, Sharon Lieberman Mintz, Curator of Jewish Art at JTS Library writes:

The bookplate collection of The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary was already underway in the early twentieth century. A Library list from 1940 indicates that we possessed 47 bookplates at that time. The collection grew gradually over the years but was significantly enhanced in the last decade of the twentieth century with the purchase of a collection of 410 bookplates from Sotheby’s in June 1996 and the extraordinary acquisition in March 1997 of 2100 bookplates from the private collection of Leah Mishkin. Today, the Library’s holdings consist of over 2600 bookplates. The Library’s collection of bookplates features the bookplates of individual and institutional Jewish book collectors from around the world. It is particularly strong in bookplates with Judaic imagery. The Library possess many rare examples, including the bookplate created for Isaac Mendes by the artist Benjamin Levi in 1746, one of the first known ex libris created for a Jewish patron and designed by a Jewish artist. In addition, numerous famous artists are represented, including bookplates by Hermann Struck and Ephraim Moses Lilien. Known as the "father of Jewish bookplates," Lilien was one of the first illustrators to create ex libris with distinctive Jewish motifs.

Today, the the majority of Library’s holdings are cataloged in our on-line Aleph system. They are also digitized and available on-line at the following site: http://sylvester.jtsa.edu:8881/R/XM1F16U5D1BBBL1A9K1EEU2SYT9JKXXY6SP8F4P3H8FPC4DJ6K-02018?func=collections-result&collection_id=1166

Note that when it lists 10 bookplates it actually means 10 Albums of bookplates. The volumes are divided between private individuals and public institutions and within that division are listed alphabetically. You are welcome to page through each album . The cataloging for each bookplate is reached through the metadata button above the images