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Detailed record for King's 1
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| Part 1 |
ff. 1-429 |
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| Title |
Bible (the 'King's Bible') |
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| Origin |
Spain, N. E., Catalonia (Solsona) |
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| Date |
Last quarter of the 14th century, 1384 |
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| Language |
Hebrew |
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| Script |
Sephardi semi-cursive script, punctuated |
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| Scribe |
Jacob ben Joseph of Ripoll |
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| Decoration |
1 full-page frontispiece, in colours and gold (f. 2v). 2 full-page miniatures of Temple implements, in colours and gold (ff. 3v-4). |
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| Dimensions in mm |
335 x 270 (210 x 165) in two columns |
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| Part 2 |
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| Date |
Last quarter of the 17th century, after 1683 |
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| Decoration |
3 full-page miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 2, 7v, 8). Numerous decorated initial-word panels, in colours and gold. Numerous decorated chapter numbers. |
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| Official foliation |
ff. 429 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning) |
| Collation |
53 quires: i8-1 (ff. 1-7), ii-lii8 (ff. 8-423), liii8-1 (ff. 424-429, [430]). Hebrew quire numbering. |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Red leather, 18th century, gold tooled with the monogram of George III. |
| Provenance |
Jacob ben Joseph of Ripoll, the scribe: inscribed with his name in the colophon, Solsona, Kislew 5145 [1384] (f. 427).
Isaac ben Judah of Tulusa (Toulouse), the patron: inscribed with his name on the frontispiece and in the colophon, Solsona Kislew 5145 [1384] (ff. 2v, 427).
Laurentius D'Arvieux (b. 1635, d. 1702), French traveller and diplomat, consul for France and Holland at Aleppo: Latin title page added by him (f. 1); purchased in 1683.
Latin account on the history of the manuscript, 16th century (f. 1v).
Benjamin Kennicott (b. 1718, d. 1783), English biblical scholar: his translation of the Latin account on f. 1v, 1768 (a paper sheet affixed on f. [i verso]).
King George III (b. 1738, d. 1820): his stamp on upper and lower covers.
Given to the British Museum by King George IV in 1823 as part of the library of King George III. |
| Notes |
Flesh and hair side are distinguishable. Ruling and pricking are visible. Pagination and decorated chapter numbers - both with Hebrew characters - are later additions (after 1683).
Remains of inscriptions probably printed from another consecutive page presently missing, upside down and right to left ( f. [i]). |
| Select bibliography |
George Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1899-1935; vols I-III repr. 1965); IV, Introduction, Indexes, ed. by Jacob Leveen (London: British Museum, 1977), I, no. 56.
Therese and Mendel Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages: Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts of the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries (New York: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1982), p. 304.
Bezalel Narkiss, Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Isles: A Catalogue Raisonne´. The Spanish and Portuguese Manuscripts, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), I, no. 22; II, figs 332-36.
Bezalel Narkiss, Kitvei yad ivriyim metzuyarim (Jerusalem: Keter, 1984), p. 31.
Katrin Kogman-Appel, Jewish Book Art Between Islam and Christianity: the Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain (Lieden: Brill, 2004), pp. 154-168.
Ilana Tahan, Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Script and Image (London, British Library, 2007), pp. 49-51.
Sacred: Books of the Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam (London: British Library, 2007), p. 107 [exhibition catalogue]. |
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Part 1
ff. 1-429 |
| Bible (the 'King's Bible') |
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f. 2
Tetragrammaton |
f. 2v
Frontispiece |
f. 3
Menorah |
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f. 3v
Temple implements |
f. 4
Temple implements |
f. 7v
Tablets of the Law |
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f. 31
Decorated initial-word panel |
f. 31
Decorated initial-word panel |
f. 427
Colophon |
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