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• 1 media/2-4_TeshuvotKetavSofer.jpg 2022-04-28T11:53:25-07:00 The Books: Prague to Los Angeles 103 plain 2022-05-15T20:27:41-07:00 UCLA Library staff and administrators were receptive to Kohout’s request for repatriation and— before moving forward with the process—began investigating the books’ unique histories. In the year following the initial discovery, JMP curators located two additional books using HathiTrust, and Mizrachi discovered yet another in a stack of unprocessed materials.
  We do not know the full story of how these—now six—books journeyed from Prague to Los Angeles. UCLA Library most likely acquired them in the early to mid-1960s, a period when the budget flourished and the library expanded its holdings significantly. Around this time, there was also an increased interest in Jewish Studies on campus.
  
  As evidenced by the bookplate pictured, at least one book, Geonim, was part of the Cummings Collection—a significant acquisition of 33,520 books from a Jerusalem bookstore called Bamberger and Wahrman, which closed permanently in 1963. The JMP had given over 1,000 duplicate books to Bamberger and Wahrman after the war in exchange for rare Judaica and Hebraica materials. It is possible that looted items from other places made their way to the bookstore as well. Though the other five books do not contain Cummings bookplates, we know that UCLA acquired all of the books at around the same time due to their accession numbers. The second set of books discovered at UCLA were:

  Histoire des médecins juifs anciens et modernes

  Histoire des médecins juifs anciens et modernes (History of Ancient and Modern Jewish Doctors) (1844) by Eliakim Carmoly. Carmoly (1802-1875), a French scholar, was devoted to the study of Jewish literature and Hebrew manuscripts. He worked for a time at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and also served as a rabbi in Brussels. This work contains information about early Jewish medicine and medical practitioners.
  

  
  Index raisonné des livres de correspondance

  Index raisonné des livres de correspondance (Critical Index of Correspondence Papers) (1878) by Samuel David Luzzato. Luzzatto (1800–1865), or Shadal, was an Italian Jewish writer whose works included poetry and religious and literary scholarship. He was also known for his extensive scholarly correspondence, to which the Index Raisonné provides a guide.

  
  Teshuvot Ketav Sofer 

  Teshuvot Ketav Sofer (Writ of the Scribe) (1878 or 1879) by Abraham Samuel Benjamin Wolf Sofer. Sofer (1815–1871), also known as Ketav Sofer (from the title of this work), was a prominent Hungarian rabbi. The Ketav Sofer is a responsa, a written explanation of a religious law or laws from a rabbi or other religious authority.