Zunz always referred to his wife in the most affectionate terms, and in a letter addressed to a friend some time before her death he said that for a period of forty-two years she had been a most faithful helpmate to him, sharing all his joys and sorrows, and encouraging him in his work. Her death, which occurred on August 18, 1874, caused Zunz the greatest sorrow, and from that moment he became more and more melancholy, and was never again in a fit state of mind to undertake any important literary work. Yet he lived, though in strict retirement, to celebrate his ninetieth birthday, on which occasion a tribute of respect was paid to him by some of his friends and admirers, which took the shape of a volume, entitled _Jubelschrift zum 90^{sten} Geburtstag des Dr. Leopold Zunz_. It contained literary contributions from Steinschneider, Neubauer, Jellinek, Güdemann, David Kaufmann, Derenbourg, and other scholars. A few years later, viz. on March 17, 1886, corresponding to the 11th of the Hebrew month of _Adar_, Zunz died peacefully. Zunz's valuable and interesting library was subsequently bought by the Trustees of the Montefiore College Library at Ramsgate, while his unpublished MSS. were taken possession of by the Trustees of the so-called “Zunz-Stiftung,” founded at Berlin in 1864 in commemoration of Zunz's seventieth birthday, with the object of giving pecuniary assistance to Jewish authors, and enabling them to publish such of their MSS. as the authorities of the “Stiftung” considered fit. Zunz's literary labours began at an early age. In 1818 he published an essay entitled _A Study in Rabbinical Literature_, which is specially interesting on account of its containing a definition of the various subjects that constitute Jewish literature, to which, however, neither past nor contemporary students had paid due attention. It may at once be said that, though it was originally written with the view of inducing scholars of his time to work out the subjects mentioned therein, it was the author himself who did the most in giving effect to his own suggestions. In 1823 he published a sketch of the life and works of the famous commentator on the Bible and the Talmud, Rabbi Solomon Yizchaki, commonly called “Rashi” (1040–1105). This essay may be said to be a model biographical sketch. It contains almost all the ingredients which go to compose an interesting and instructive whole. It is characterized by method and the critical acumen, which is generally sadly lacking in biographies written before his time, and has indicated new lines of thought in more directions than one.