It is, to say the least, rather startling that prior to the appearance of this new book by StefanReif, who is professor of Medieval Hebrew Studies at Cambridge University in England, thedirector of the Genizah Research Unit, and head of the Oriental Division at the University Library,there simply was no detailed history of the discovery of the Cairo Genizah and its transferalabroad. Neither had there been a convenient single survey of the broad range of its contents, nor acomprehensive mise au point of the century of scholarship in so many disciplines thathas resulted from this unique treasure trove. Brief introductory sketches existed in the works ofPaul Kahle and S. D. Goitein, and Norman Golb surveyed the first half-century of Genizahscholarship more than forty years ago in the journal Judaism (1957). But none of theseprovided the wealth of detail to be found in A Jewish Archive from Old Cairo.