Dr. Ilona Steimann
Research Associate | ilonasteimann[at]yahoo.com
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2015
PhD, Title of the Dissertation: "Habent sua fata libelli: Hebrew Books from the Collection of Hartmann Schedel", Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2008
MA, Title of the Master Thesis: "Illuminated Haggadot Manuscripts from Venetian Candia", Art History Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2001
BA, Art History Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Employment
Since 12/2021
Research Associate, Heidelberg Center for Jewish Studies, Chair of Bible and Jewish Biblical Interpretation, Project "Corpus Masoreticum"
4/2019 – 11/2021
Principal Investigator, Project "Beyond Hebraism: Hebrew Manuscripts in a Late Medieval Institutional Setting", Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts", University of Hamburg
5/2017 – 3/2019
Research Associate at the Institute for Jewish Studies, Project "From Manuscript to Printing Press: The Illustrated Book in Late Medieval Jewish Culture", University of Münster
2014 – 2016
Lecturer (Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts) Mediaval Jewish History and Culture, Ludwig Maxmilians University of Munich
2015
Research Associate, Judaic Studies, Project "Books within Books: Hebrew Fragments in European Libraries. Description of the Hebrew fragments in German libraries", Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
4/2002–8/2011
Research Associate, Center for Jewish Art, Section for Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Publications
Books
Steimann, Ilona. 2020. Jewish Book – Christian Book: Hebrew Manuscripts in Transition between Jews and Christians in the Context of German Humanism. Brepols: Turnhout.
Steimann, Ilona. 2014. 'Habent Sua Fata Libelli'. Hebrew Books from the Collection of Hartmann Schedel. Jerusalem (PhD Thesis).
Edited Volumes
Kogman-Appel, Katrin and Ilona Steimann, eds. 2023 (forthcoming), The Jewish Book 1400–1600: From Production to Reception.
Cohen-Mushlin, Aliza, Yaffa Levy, Michal Sternthal, Ilona Steimann, Anna Nizza-Caplan, and Estherlee Kanon-Ebner eds. 2020. Selected Hebrew Manuscripts from the Bavarian State Library, Schriftenreihe der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek 9, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Articles
Steimann, Ilona. 2023 (forthcoming). "A Forced Journey between Two Faiths: The Hebrew Manuscripts of the University of Vienna." In The Jewish Book 1400–1600: From Production to Reception, ed. by Katrin Kogman-Appel and Ilona Steimann.
Steimann, Ilona. 2023: "Jewish Exemplars and Hebraist Copies of Hebrew Manuscripts." In Personal Manuscripts: Copying, Drafting, Taking Notes, ed. David Durand-Guédy and Jürgen Paul, Berlin 2023, 477–507. Open Access.
Steimann, Ilona. 2023. "Masoretic Manuscripts from France. The Jonah Pentateuch (Bl, Add. Ms 21160) Revisited." In Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 5 (Vol. 2), 1–35. Open Access.
Steimann, Ilona. 2023. "Hebraism without Hebrew: Hartmann Schedel and the Conversion of his 'Jewish' Books." In Hebrew between Jews and Christian (Studia Judaica 77), ed. Daniel Stein Kokin, Berlin 2023, 159–186.
Steimann, Ilona. 2022. "'Beautiful Books with Beautiful Covers': The Bindings of Hebrew Manuscripts in Late Medieval Ashkenaz." In Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 7/1, 76–103.
Steimann, Ilona. 2020. "'Anathema upon anyone who would destroy this codex': Hebrew Fragments in Hebraist Hands." In European Genizah: Newly Discovered Hebrew Binding Fragments in Context V, ed. by Andreas Lehnardt, 313-31. Studies in Jewish History and Culture 63. Leiden: Brill.
Steimann, Ilona. 2020. "Johann Jakob Fugger and His Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts." In Selected Hebrew Manuscripts from the Bavarian State Library, ed. by Aliza Cohen-Mushlin and others, XXIX–XLVII. Schriftenreihe der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Steimann, Ilona. 2019. "'Das es dasselb puch sey:' The Book as Protagonist in the Ceremony of the Jewry-oath", In European Journal of Jewish Studies 13, 1, 77–102.
Steimann, Ilona. 2017. "The Preservation of Hebrew Books by Christians in the Pre-Reformation German Milieu." In Jewish Manuscript Cultures: New Perspectives, ed. by Irina Wandrey, 203–26. Studies in Manuscript Cultures 13. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Steimann, Ilona. 2017. "Hebräischer Briefsteller." In Gold und Bücher lieb ich sehr ... 480 Jahre Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg. Katalog zur Cimelien-Ausstellung vom 19. Oktober bis 15. Dezember 2017, ed. by Karl-Georg Pfändtner, 186–87. Lucerne: Quaternio Verlag.
Steiman, Ilona. 2017. "Jewish Scribes and Christian Patrons: The Hebraica Collection of Johann Jakob Fugger." In Renaissance Quarterly 70/4, 1235–81.
Steimann, Ilona. 2013. "Making Illuminated Haggadot in Venetian Candia." In Mediterranean Historical Review 27/2, 161–73.
Steimann, Ilona and Michal Sternthal. 2013. "Elijah and David Nezer Zahav the Physician: Scribes and Illuminators in Apulia." In Gli ebrei nel Salento. Secoli IX–XVI, ed. by Fabrizio Lelli, 273–84. Galatina: Congedo.
Reviews
Steimann, Ilona. 2019. "Review of Jüdisch-christliche Buchmalerei im Spätmittelalter: Aschkenasische Haggadah-Handschriften aus Süddeutschland und Norditalien by Franziska Amirov." In Renaissance Quarterly 72/4, 1439–40.
Steimann, Ilona. 2016. "Review of Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, edited by Marc Michael Epstein." In Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 2, 92–94.
Online Publication
‘One Manuscript and Three Persecutions: The Journey of the Vienna Hebrew Prophets and Hagiographa’, in Artefact of the Month, no. 8, CSMC, Hamburg, ed. by Wiebke Beyer, Karin Becker
https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/publications/aom/008-en.html
Research Interests
Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts (Codicology, Palaeography, Art); Book History; Book Collections by Christians and Jews; Christian Hebraic Studies; Material Jewish Culture of the Middle Ages