Among the recent acquisitions of the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem, the periodical “Al Burhan” published at Bagdad by Jews, and later suppressed by the Government, has been sent to the Hebrew University by Josef Hadad of Bagdad, according to a quarterly report issued by Dr. Hugo Bergmann, Librarian of the University.
A collection of books comprising gifts from various men of science in Italy, has also been presented to the Library through the endeavors of Professor Amberto Cassuto of Florence, Italy.
The architectural collection of the Hebrew University Library has been enriched by a fund just established by Mrs. S. Preciado of Bucharest, Roumania, in memory of her son, in whose honor the collection will be named. The books to be bought from the fund will be selected by the architect, Mr. Loeb of Jerusalem. More than two hundred works on architecture and art and periodicals in that field were donated to the Library by Mrs. Preciado, the personal library of her late son. A further architectural collection was received from Mr. E. J. Levi of Cairo, containing approximately 100 books in French, English and German.
Among recent donations from America are various works of music and musical periodicals contributed by the composer, L. Saminsky, Director of the Temple Emanuel Choir of New York. Other gifts from America include books contributed by Dr. Solomon Lowenstein, Executive Director of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York and Victor S. Yarros of Chicago, both of whom donated books on political science.
The complete archives of the Central Committee for the Relief of War Pogrom Victims in the Ukraine, containing a large quantity of material on the pogroms and the fate of the Jewish refugees immediately subsequent to the War, has been contributed recently, Dr. Bergmann announced.
The Schwadron Collection of Autographs and Photographs has been enriched by the legacy of the late Dr. Samuel Abraham Pozansky of Poland, according to Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, President of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, who stated that the Hebrew University possessed the largest collection of rare autographs and photographs of Jewish notables in the world. The Pozansky bequest contains many hundreds of letters, including correspondence with well-known scientists with whom the late Dr. Pozansky corresponded. The gift also includes copies and photostats of manuscripts from the University libraries at Oxford, Berlin and Leningrad; what is considered to be the most important part of his legacy, according to Dr. Rosenbach, is notes on a biographical dictionary of the Karaites by Dr. Pozansky, hitherto unpublished, concerning the history of that sect and their leaders.
Over sixteen thousand volumes were added to the catalogue of the University library during 1931, Dr. Rosenbach stated. Of this number 2,300 volumes were in European languages, 900 in Hebrew and 900 in Yiddish. Nearly 4,000 volumes in English were received by the Library, while the number of English books read during the past year increased by 2,000 or 65% over the previous year. The number of books in Arabic read during the past season was approximately double that of 1930.
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