Ku-bukh (Book of Cows)
1595
Image
Title page of the first known printed version of the Ku-bukh (Cow Book), a sixteenth-century collection of Yiddish fables, published in Verona, Italy in 1595. The later compendium of Yiddish stories known as The Mayse-bukh (Book of Stories) condemned the Ku-bukh, whose tone has been described as “earthy,” as morally corrupting. Two women working are depicted at the bottom. The one on the left may be carding wool, or using a small, tabletop loom, while the one on the right is weaving cloth at a full-size loom.
Credits
Moshe N. Rosenfeld and Abraham Basevi, title page from The Book of Cows: A Facsimile Edition of the Famed Kuhbuch, Verona 1595, from a Unique Copy in a Private Collection (London: Hebraica Books, 1984). Harvard University Libraries.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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