Collection: Rare Judaica books find new life at St. Louis bookstore

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 ing him to understand the story behind the books.

“Last September, I heard that there was a large collection of Hebrew books at Dunaway, so I came with an Israeli friend to check it out and ended up buying three books,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman learned from one of the employees that they needed someone to catalog the books and tell them what they had. He reached out to Twellman and Brodie, who hired him to catalog the collection and figure out explanations and backgrounds for as many books as possible.

“Cataloging a collection is very important,” Twellman said. “It is basically making sure that the inventory is searchable in a database. Bram is fluent in Hebrew, has a yeshiva education and understands what he’s looking at and which books are important to Judaism.”

Cataloging the collection

Once a week, Hoffman puts down his schoolbooks and heads to the back of Dunaway and picks up a book from the Lutwak collection. The process of cataloging can be slow. Many of the books published in the 19th and early 20th centuries have no English descriptions to work with, have unknown authors or have little basic information about their origins.

Hoffman’s unique skills and mastery of Hebrew and Jewish history allow him to pull out specific pieces of information written in the books that act as clues to solving each one’s hidden mysteries. Each book is a challenge but one Hoffman relishes when he makes a breakthrough.

“It’s an ‘aha!’ feeling,” he said. “Like now I understand what gives it significance. Often, it usually comes from noticing the smaller details, like the publishing location, the printer, the year, any symbols or handwriting in it.”

Since September, Hoffman has been making progress on the 4,000 remaining books, though this part-time job has become much more than cataloging the collection.

“I would say that is only one part,” he said. “My other job is to connect Dunaway with the Jewish community so that these books can find a good home. That involves marketing, making connections, talking to community members and even just tell- ing friends about books the store has that I think they would like.”

Books from the Lutwak collection are slowly finding their way onto the shelves of Dunaway Books. Housed within a spacious former art gallery, the store itself is a gem among independent bookstores. Along with the Lutwak collection, you’ll find aisle after aisle of carefully collected books on a broad variety of subjects.

While there is a Judaica section inside Dunaway, books from the Lutwak collection are shelved in multiple sections. Prices of fine, used, out-of-print and rare volumes will vary, so feel free to call ahead with any questions, or simply ask any salesperson where to find any books from the Lutwak collection.