FRIEDBERG, BERNARD

FRIEDBERG, BERNARD (Bernhard, Ḥayyim Dov ; 1876–1961), scholar and bibliographer. Friedberg was born in Cracow, and in 1900 moved to Frankfurt, where he worked for the publisher and bookseller Isaac *Kauffmann. In 1904 he set up his own firm and by 1906 had published two catalogs; in the same year he and J. Saenger founded the publishing house of Saenger and Friedberg. In 1910 the partnership broke up, and Friedberg entered the diamond trade, moving to Antwerp. When the Nazis occupied Belgium, he lost his valuable library and all his papers. In 1946 he settled in Tel Aviv, continuing to deal in diamonds but with his heart in books and his bibliographical and genealogical research.

Beginning in 1896, Friedberg published in Hebrew a number of biographies, e.g., on Joseph Caro (1896), Shabbetai Kohen (1898), and Nathan Spira (1899); family histories, e.g., Schor (1901), Landau (1905), and Horowitz (1911, 1928²); and a study on the old Jewish cemetery of Cracow, Luhot Zikkaron (1897, 1904², 1969). Friedberg's first bibliographical effort was a history of Hebrew printing in Cracow, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Cracow (1900), followed by a similar study on Lublin, Le-Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Lublin (1901). In 1932 he began publishing a series of works on the history of Hebrew printing, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri; the series included volumes on Poland (1932, 1950²); on Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and the Orient (1934, 1956²); on Central Europe (1935); and on Western Europe (1937). His greatest achievement was his bibliographical lexicon Beit Eked Sefarim (1 vol., 1928–31; 4 vols., 1951–56², the second edition listing Hebrew books published by 1950). Though Friedberg's works are not always accurate, they are indispensable bibliographical reference books.

bibliography:

Tidhar, 5 (1952), 2268–69; Kressel, 2 (1967), 659.

[Naphtali Ben-Menahem]