I had already warmed to this book before reading the compiler's introduction in which he (a retired actuary) admits this book was a labour of love, compiled when he got bored with doing his PhD! First, it was a slim book, easily held in the hand – a rare pleasure for a Reference Reviews reviewer! Second, instead of browsing with a critical mind‐set, I kept reading the text! “How interesting!”, “I never knew that!” Having only a patchy knowledge of UK Jewish history, I was hooked. I was fascinated, for example, by the six fold division into which the compiler had divided his chronology. 1066 and 2005 were obvious chronological breaks, but 1290? 1656? 1858? and 1917? They seem obvious now: the Expulsion; the Readmission; Emancipation, and the Balfour Declaration. Unlike most chronologies which are rigidly tabulated and dry, this one flows, like time itself. To the left of each page is the date followed on its right by the name of the event, then a prose description: 28 June 1806 – Jews' Hospital opened; 14 April 1809 – Royal Dukes visit the Great Synagogue; 1823 – Masoretic Accents set to music; 11 February 1826 – University College London founded; 5 April 1830 – First Jewish Emancipation Bill; 31 August 1835 – Matrimonial Causes Act, etc. The commentary to the event of 5 April 1830 covers a page (though such length is rare), and while the Jewish aspect of the opening of University College and the Matrimonial Causes Act may not be obvious, the commentary tells us their significance in Jewish history.
For each event a reference leads to a source document in the Notes section, where there is sometimes further commentary. (The six‐fold chronological division is here a nuisance; one straight sequence would be easier to use.) Additionally, many of the prose accounts have a title noted for further reading; there is an impressive Select Bibliography at the end of the book. Illustrations (rather grey) are sprinkled throughout the work.
In addition to the Notes, Select Bibliography, and an index, there are a number of appendices. These include a listing of major events in Jewish history (from BCE 1004 when David was anointed king, to the failure of the Camp David meeting and the start of the second Intifada in 2000); a listing of major events in British history to the 2003 Iraq War; and an interesting table listing Jewish characters in British literature (Shylock, Ivanhoe's Rebecca, Daniel Deronda, etc.). Other tables cover the number of Jews in Britain, heads of British Jewry from Deodatus to Sir Jonathan Sacks, and British Jewish Firsts since Readmission – the first Jewish Fellow of the Royal Society, the first Jewish peer, the first Jewish Wimbledon Champion – that sort of thing. I am not keen on such “first‐o‐mania”, but I am keen on the rest of the book. The price, though, is steep and may deter, especially since much of the information will be available in other sources. But for libraries serving a Jewish interest, purchase will be well rewarded.
