The Special Collections Division of The University of Manchester Library holds significant collections of Hebraica. These include manuscripts, amulets, archives, and rare books.

The circa 400 Hebrew manuscripts date from the 14th century to the early 20th century. They include deluxe decorated and illustrated religious and literary manuscripts such as the famous Rylands Haggadah, liturgical, scientific and magical codices, a collection of marriage contracts (ketubot) and Esther scrolls (megilot), and rare and unique items from the Karaite and the Samaritan communities. This diverse collection also has a wide geographical coverage, with manuscripts coming from the British Isles, Spain, France, Germany, Romania, Italy, Morocco, China, and Yemen. Predominantly written in the Hebrew language in Hebrew script, other languages represented include Aramaic, Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Spanish, German, Latin, English, Crimean Tatar and even Judeo-Persian. Over 200 digitised Hebrew manuscripts are available with more detailed descriptions on Manchester Digital Collections.

The amulet collection was acquired from Dr Rabbi Moses Gaster in 1954 and contains around 270 items of various types: beadwork, metalwork, textile objects, paper and parchment manuscripts, etc. Those that contain text are mostly in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, or Arabic but there are also a few Samaritan and Ethiopian items. Though labelled as such, they are not necessarily all amulets, but some are liturgical objects, manuscript fragments, and even weapons. There is very little known about their provenance, but some of them are clearly coming from a non-Jewish context. The majority of Gaster Amulet Collection is available with more detailed descriptions on Manchester Digital Collections

The Library also holds precious printed Hebrew books: 11 incunabula and several hundred post-1500 volumes. Some of these books were part of the Earl of Spencer’s library acquired by the Rylands in 1892, some of the arrived with the Gaster material in 1954. Apart from these, there are also three distinct collections of Hebrew printed books: the Haskalah Collection related to the Jewish Enlightenment acquired from historian Professor Chimen Abramsky in 1970, the Marmorstein Collection of Judaica literature purchased in 1977, and the Teltscher Collection acquired from the family of Richard Teltscher in 2002.

This online collection contains images of complete manuscripts in Hebrew and Samaritan script, amulets, Judaica objects, and to a much lesser extent rare books. The collection also hosts images of archival material accumulated by Dr Moses Gaster.

Over 200 digitised Hebrew manuscripts and the Gaster Amulet Collection are available with more detailed descriptions on Manchester Digital Collections.