Cataloging is complete for 225 Hebrew-script manuscripts from the collection of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library). These manuscripts were microfilmed by HMML decades ago and have now been added to Reading Room as updated catalog records.

They feature a variety of religious, philosophical, and scientific works produced by Jewish authors and translators across Western Europe and beyond. Many of the works testify to the fruitful medieval scholarly networks connecting Jews, Christians, and Muslims, all building on the ancient Greek philosophical heritage and producing a large corpus of Hebrew translations from Greek, Arabic, and Latin sources. Other manuscripts bear witness to the persecution of Jewish communities in Europe, as in Cod. Hebr. 16 (microfilm 22034), which was copied in 1299 CE and mentions a pogrom in its colophon. Many of the manuscripts are richly decorated. Most of the texts are in Hebrew, with a significant portion of Aramaic in religious and legal texts, but there are also examples of other languages including Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), Judeo-Arabic, and even one text including Ottoman Turkish in Hebrew script (Cod. Hebr. 212, microfilm 22130). Medieval manuscripts are found alongside modern ones, many of which were gifts to the Austrian emperors from their Jewish subjects in the 18th and 19th centuries. This is the first large corpus of Jewish manuscripts in HMML's Reading Room. View now