This book is a large and impressive bibliography. Let Gallego's preface set the scene: “Owing to the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, publications in the field of Jewish‐Islamic studies appear in journals and volumes covering a wide range of topics, from those of a linguistic character... to those specifically devoted to Jewish history and culture or to Islamic history and culture, as well as general Middle Eastern and Near Eastern publications”. So what the compilers have done is to quarry the major indexes such as Index Islamicus, the standard printed bibliography, and Rambi (an online database of journal articles and chapters from books in the main Western languages and modern Hebrew from 1960s to date). Despite the excellence of these there are serious gaps. These two publications have a specific focus, and most bibliographies started in the 1950s and 1960s. Even though Index Islamicus dates from 1906, the subject started much earlier. And what is the subject? It is defined as: “the history and culture of Jews in Islamic lands”, the latter itself is defined as: “areas inhabited by Jews living under Muslim rule, or having a majority Muslim population”.
Source materials are journals with an emphasis on Jewish and Islamic topics, written in the main European languages from the mid‐nineteenth century to date, such as Tarbiz (1929 to date) and Zion (1936 to date), plus monographs and collective works. There is no listing of sources, which is a pity. Clearly the range of materials consulted is massive and a listing would have enhanced the status of this work, as well as being of value in itself.
The bibliography is arranged thematically with 29 main subject headings with numerous divisions and sub‐divisions, both geographical and subject. Entries are concise and generally adequate – at least to those conversant in the subject matter (and who, using this bibliography, would not be!) though many entries are given scope notes. A number of the entries are attached to more than one heading. We are told that entries are “additionally described by keywords which form the subject index at the end of the volume”. If so, the keywords are invisible! They do not feature with the entry, although the sophisticated taxonomy used in the Index suggests they were used at some stage in the compilation or production. Did they inadvertently get dropped off, or deliberately so, to save space? However, we can manage without.
Each entry is given a running number. We start with 1: Judaeo‐Arabic studies: proceedings of the founding conference of Judaeo‐Arabic studies; 2: an article on the Jewish contribution to the development of Oriental studies in the USSR; 3: The scholarly study of Karaism in the nineteenth century; and 4: L'étude des communautés juives orientales et la fusion des diasporas. These are under the heading: History of the subject – institutions. The bibliography concludes with an article on L'Abie sépharade at entry number 17,181, The Cochini Jewish wedding of the Malabar community in India and Israel at 12182, and finally, a 1999 article on Judaeo‐Arabic in India at 12,183. The heading for these is: “South, East & Southeast Asia”.
The thematic arrangement of the bibliography is complemented by a 23‐page, three‐columned Subject Index and a 42‐page, three‐columned Name Index. There are, inevitably I suppose, huge “number‐blocks” in the Subject Index. The entry for Spain is followed by some 790 page numbers! A sure sign, perhaps, that a user‐hostile computer has been used.
The sheer number of entries is testament to the industry of the compilers. I would have welcomed, however, a little more information about the sources used and a guide, perhaps, to libraries where there is a good chance of being able to consult the items here so assiduously collected and presented. So often I see incredible works of scholarship undersold by their compilers, or their publishers. The preface gives us the “what” and the “why”; I want more of the “how” and the “where”! This comprehensive and exhaustive work will be a standard resource for specialist Jewish collections.
