Reggio Collection
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG
Contact information: phone number
0044 1865 277162 (reader services)
0044 (0)1865 277150 (special collections)
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (reader services)
specialcollections.bookings@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (special collections)
Reference number
MS. Reggio
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Reggio Collection
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Rabbi Isaac Samuel Reggio
Language(s)
heb
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Reggio Collection is composed of Hebrew manuscripts collected by Rabbi Isaac Samuel Reggio. Among them, there are some manuscripts of Sephardic origin, such as the following:
MS. Reggio 26 (Neubauer 2396): Collection of kabbalistic texts, including Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon's Sefer ha-Shem, composed in North Africa between the late 15th century and the early 16th century.
MS. Reggio 41 (Neubauer 1263): Commentary on the Moreh Nevukhim by Messer David ben Judah Leon, produced in North Africa in the early 16th century.
MS. Reggio 43 (Neubauer 2047): Collection of medical, philosophical, astrological, and astronomical texts, written in Sephardic semi-cursive and cursive script, and probably produced in Provence in the 15th century. It includes, among other texts, a copy of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed (Moreh Nevukhim, 3:27-29) (fols. 65r-68r), and Judah ben Moses ben Ḥayim ha-Sefaradi's Treatise on the sciences (fols. 74v-103r).
MS. Reggio 46 (Neubauer 2021): Collection of astronomical and astrological texts, written in Sephardic cursive script, and probably produced in Provence in the late 15th century. It includes a copy of Abraham ibn Ezra's Sefer ha-ibur (The Book of Intercalation) (fols. 1v-7v).
MS. Reggio 55: Collection of texts, including poems and poetic fragments in Spanish and one sonnet in Portuguese, some transcribed in Latin script and others in semi-cursive Sephardic script, according to Kenneth Brown and Mariano Gómez Aranda, probably copied by Shlomo Abudiente. The volume was acquired by Rabbi Reggio in Livorno.
MS. Reggio 63 (Neubauer 1081): Maḥzor for the entire year, according to the Sephardic rite, produced in Aragon (Spain) in the 15th century.
MS. Reggio 26 (Neubauer 2396): Collection of kabbalistic texts, including Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon's Sefer ha-Shem, composed in North Africa between the late 15th century and the early 16th century.
MS. Reggio 41 (Neubauer 1263): Commentary on the Moreh Nevukhim by Messer David ben Judah Leon, produced in North Africa in the early 16th century.
MS. Reggio 43 (Neubauer 2047): Collection of medical, philosophical, astrological, and astronomical texts, written in Sephardic semi-cursive and cursive script, and probably produced in Provence in the 15th century. It includes, among other texts, a copy of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed (Moreh Nevukhim, 3:27-29) (fols. 65r-68r), and Judah ben Moses ben Ḥayim ha-Sefaradi's Treatise on the sciences (fols. 74v-103r).
MS. Reggio 46 (Neubauer 2021): Collection of astronomical and astrological texts, written in Sephardic cursive script, and probably produced in Provence in the late 15th century. It includes a copy of Abraham ibn Ezra's Sefer ha-ibur (The Book of Intercalation) (fols. 1v-7v).
MS. Reggio 55: Collection of texts, including poems and poetic fragments in Spanish and one sonnet in Portuguese, some transcribed in Latin script and others in semi-cursive Sephardic script, according to Kenneth Brown and Mariano Gómez Aranda, probably copied by Shlomo Abudiente. The volume was acquired by Rabbi Reggio in Livorno.
MS. Reggio 63 (Neubauer 1081): Maḥzor for the entire year, according to the Sephardic rite, produced in Aragon (Spain) in the 15th century.
Archival history
Isaac Samuel Reggio's library was purchased en bloc by the Bodleian Library in 1853.
Administrative / Biographical history
Isaac Samuel Reggio (1784-1855) was born at Göritz, Illyria. He studied Hebrew and Rabbinics under his father, Abraham Vita, later rabbi of Göritz, acquiring at the same time in the gymnasium a knowledge of secular science and languages. Besides Italian, his mother tongue, Reggio knew French, German, and Latin, and he studied several Semitic languages in addition to Hebrew.
In 1802, Reggio published in the "Neuwieder Zeitung" the solution to a difficult mathematical problem, which gave him a reputation as a mathematician. He also discovered a new demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem, which was praised by Cauchy, the well-known French mathematician.
In 1803, Reggio went to Triest, where for three years he was a tutor in the house of a wealthy family. He returned to Göritz in 1807, where one year later he married the daughter of a wealthy man and settled down to a life of independent study. When the province of Illyria (1810) became a French dependency, Reggio was appointed by the French governor professor of belles-lettres, geography, and history, and chancellor of the lyceum of Göritz. But three years later, Illyria became an Austrian province again, and the Austrian anti-Jewish laws compelled Reggio to resign.
He then devoted himself exclusively to Jewish literature and cognate subjects. Taking Mendelssohn and Wessely as guides, he next made his name celebrated in connection with religious philosophy, and, indeed, became to the Italian Jews what Mendelssohn was to his German coreligionists. In 1822, an imperial decree stated that no one might be appointed a rabbi who had not graduated in philosophy. Reggio published at Venice an appeal, in Italian, for the establishment of a rabbinical seminary. This appeal resulted in the establishment of a rabbinical college at Padua, for which Reggio drew up the statutes and the educational program.
Following the example of Mendelssohn, Reggio endeavoured to extend the knowledge of Hebrew among the Jewish masses by translating the Bible into Italian and writing a commentary thereon.
In 1846, after his father's death, the community of Göritz insisted upon his accepting the rabbinical office; he agreed but declined to receive the salary attached to it. After occupying the position for ten years he resigned.
Reggio was a voluminous writer. His most important works are "Ha-Torah weha-Pilusufiah", a religious-philosophical essay written as an answer to the rabbis of the old school who protested against the establishment of the rabbinical college at Padua; "Mafteaḥ el Megillat Ester", an introduction to the Book of Esther; and "Beḥinat ha-Ḳabbalah", an edition of Leon of Modena's two pamphlets "Ḳol Sakal" and "Sha'agat Aryeh".
In 1802, Reggio published in the "Neuwieder Zeitung" the solution to a difficult mathematical problem, which gave him a reputation as a mathematician. He also discovered a new demonstration of the Pythagorean theorem, which was praised by Cauchy, the well-known French mathematician.
In 1803, Reggio went to Triest, where for three years he was a tutor in the house of a wealthy family. He returned to Göritz in 1807, where one year later he married the daughter of a wealthy man and settled down to a life of independent study. When the province of Illyria (1810) became a French dependency, Reggio was appointed by the French governor professor of belles-lettres, geography, and history, and chancellor of the lyceum of Göritz. But three years later, Illyria became an Austrian province again, and the Austrian anti-Jewish laws compelled Reggio to resign.
He then devoted himself exclusively to Jewish literature and cognate subjects. Taking Mendelssohn and Wessely as guides, he next made his name celebrated in connection with religious philosophy, and, indeed, became to the Italian Jews what Mendelssohn was to his German coreligionists. In 1822, an imperial decree stated that no one might be appointed a rabbi who had not graduated in philosophy. Reggio published at Venice an appeal, in Italian, for the establishment of a rabbinical seminary. This appeal resulted in the establishment of a rabbinical college at Padua, for which Reggio drew up the statutes and the educational program.
Following the example of Mendelssohn, Reggio endeavoured to extend the knowledge of Hebrew among the Jewish masses by translating the Bible into Italian and writing a commentary thereon.
In 1846, after his father's death, the community of Göritz insisted upon his accepting the rabbinical office; he agreed but declined to receive the salary attached to it. After occupying the position for ten years he resigned.
Reggio was a voluminous writer. His most important works are "Ha-Torah weha-Pilusufiah", a religious-philosophical essay written as an answer to the rabbis of the old school who protested against the establishment of the rabbinical college at Padua; "Mafteaḥ el Megillat Ester", an introduction to the Book of Esther; and "Beḥinat ha-Ḳabbalah", an edition of Leon of Modena's two pamphlets "Ḳol Sakal" and "Sha'agat Aryeh".
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Digital copies of some documents are available at:
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Author of the description
Joana Rodrigues, 2022
Bibliography
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