Illuminated Hebrew Bible (Pentateuch and Hagiographa) with full Tiberian vocalisation and cantillation (gaʿya is rare; rafe occurs over quiescent he and alef), masora parva and magna (often in the form of micrographic geometric designs, flora and even fauna). The stars of David (which occur occasionally at the end of books, for instance, at the end of Leviticus, f. 89v), seder and paraša markers in the Pentateuch are all gilded or rubricated. Other rubrics (e.g. the rubric noting the middle of a biblical book) are also treated decoratively (e.g., the micrographic lion at the end of the book of Daniel, f. 315v). The word in the text to which masoretic notes refer is marked with two tiny supralinear dots, side by side. Omissions from the text are given by the naqdan (presumably) in the margin, using larger letters than the masora and marking them with a supralinear dot, for example לשרת at Exodus 39:26, f. 66v. Crude taggim (‘crowns’) have been added to a number of letters in Genesis 1, including בראשית. These are probably not the work of the original scribe or naqdan. The pentateuchal text and non-poetic hagiographa are written throughout in 2 columns, with the exception of the poetical parts of the Torah, which are written either text over space (The Song of the Sea, Exodus 15:1-18, ff. 47r-v) or space over space (The Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:1-43, ff. 143v-144v). Schiller-Szinessy (vol. i p. 24) writes: ‘The text is a model of beauty and correctness and in strict accordance with the מסרת.’Condition: Stained and some leaves are damaged on the outer or lower margins; some repairsLayout: 26 lines in 2 columns; pricked in the inner margins, and probably originally in the outer margins too.
Siddur or prayer-book according to the Ashkenazi rite, containing prayers for weekdays, Sabbaths, High Holy days and Pilgrim Festivals. The manuscript is missing pages at the beginning and end, and is probably one volume of an original pair. There are frequent, quite crude, repairs to the vellum. Various later Ashkenazi hands have annotated the margins. Many passages have been blacked out, apparently in deference to Christian susceptibilities (e.g. f. 26r and f. 141v). The scribe and vocaliser are identified by a marginal note (הסופר והנקדן) alongside the names Abraham and Isaac (decorated with crowns) at the end of the Grace after meals (f. 47r).Condition: Some staining and holes, with crude repairs; margins slightly cropped.Layout: 22 lines
This beautifully-illuminated work is a medical tract, in five parts, dealing mainly with medicine and pharmacology, but with excurses on astronomy (astrology) and divination. The handwriting is Italian, of the 15th century. Joseph b. Isaac is the first author cited (on f. 2r) and a later note on the fly-leaf attributes the whole work to him. It appears to be a composite work, however, put together from a variety of sources but on the same general subject. A single scribe produced the manuscript, by the name of Solomon (many times throughout the manuscript, when the letters שלמה appear close together at the start of lines, they are marked with rows of dots), although other hands have left annotations in the margin and additions in the text. There are frequent illuminated headings, borders and miniatures (the latter on ff. 2r, 7v, 37v, 104r, 211r, 223r and 234r). Dr Solomon Schiller-Szinessy, in his description of this manuscript, concludes: 'Not forgetting that the MS. has plenty of superstitious reminiscences in it, it is on the whole very valuable & well worth the perusal of a professional man'.Condition: Slightly creased and lightly stained in places; some margins cropped, with loss of headings. Some leaves missing.Layout: 2 columns; 35 lines; ruled.
Colourful schematic map of Jerusalem, employing the tropes of Jewish folk art of the 17th–18th centuries. Jerusalem is depicted as a walled city with many towers and is surrounded by illustrations denoting the sites of the tombs of various biblical figures and rabbinic sages in the wider Land of Israel. A title is written in a large square script at the top of the map: זאת אגרת מספרת יחסותא דתקיפי וצדיקי וחסידי ותנאי ואמוראי ארעא דישראל זכתום יעמד לנו ולכל ישראל ובא לציון גואל אכי״ר. Towards the bottom, on the left-hand side, there is a note by the artist: אני שמואל בן ישי מסיניגאליה העתקתיו מאחר שהובא מארץ רחוקה ח׳ ימים לחדש תשרי, ‘I, Samuel b. Yišay from Senigallia, copied it from one that had been brought from a distant land, on the 8th of Tišri’. Jerusalem itself is depicted as being divided into two by the Western Wall, with the Tower of David sitting prominently in the lower section. Four cypresses stand above the wall, dividing the Dome of the Rock from the Al-Aqsa Mosque (called מדרש שלמה). Each item is identified in carefully penned Hebrew, and there are occasional pious verses. The whole map is surrounded by a decorative border, lost in part.Condition: Creased, slightly torn at edges, faded and discoloured
Fragments of a Hijazi Qurʼān probably written in the second century A.H. / eighth century A.D., containing verses from the Sura al-Anfāl (سورة الأنفال).Layout: 23 lines to the page
Fragment of an Abbasid Qur'ān probably written in the third or fourth century A.H. / ninth or tenth century C.E, containing the last three verses of Sura Yūnus (سورة يونس) and the first 44 verses of Sura Hūd( سورة هود). Unidentified script.Layout: 13 lines to the pageScript: Unidentified script
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān probably written in the third century A.H. / ninth century C.E., containing verses from the Sura Ghāfir (سورة غافر). The script seems to correspond to the Abbasid Style B.II as described by F. Deroche.Layout: 15 lines to the page
Kufic fragments from an Abbasid Qurʼān (probably third century A.H. / ninth century C.E.), containing verses from the Suras al-Ḥijr (سورة الحجر) and al-Naḥl (سورة النحل). These fragments were found in al-Haram al-Sharīf at Jerusalem. The script seems to correspond to the Abbasid Style D.IV as described by F. Deroche.Layout: 18 lines to the page
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān probably written in the third or fourth century A.H. / ninth or tenth century C.E., containing verses from the Sura Ṭāhā (سورة طه). The script seems to correspond to the Abbasid Style D.Vc as described by F. Deroche.Layout: 5 lines to the page
Fragments from an Abbasid Qurʼān, probably written in the third century A.H. / ninth century C.E., containing verses from the Sura al-Naḥl (سورة النحل). The script seems to correspond to the Abbasid Style E as described by F. Deroche.Layout: 17 lines to the page
Fragments of an early Qurʼān written in the Maghrib or al-Andalus in the fourth or fifth century A.H. / tenth or eleventh century C.E. The manuscript has the characteristic square format of the Western tradition and is written in Maghribi script.Layout: 16 lines to the page
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān (probably third century A.H. / ninth century C.E.), containing verses from the Sura al-Muʾminūn (سورة المؤمنون), the complete Sura al-Nūr (سورة النور), and verses from the Sura al-Furqān (سورة الفرقان). The script seems to correspond to the Abbasid Style D.Va as described by F. Deroche.Layout: 5 lines to the page
