Ku-bukh (Book of Cows)

1595

Printed page of Yiddish text framed by woodcut of figures on curved archway and columns framing text.
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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