|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Harley 5711
|
|
|
|
| Title |
Bible with masorah magna and parva |
| Origin |
Italy, C. (Rome?) or Italy, N. (Bologna) |
| Date |
Last quarter of the 13th century |
| Language |
Hebrew, Aramaic |
| Script |
Ashkenazi square and semi-cursive script, main text is punctuated, masorah is unpunctuated |
| Decoration |
30 initial-word panels with penwork decoration, foliate motif and accompanied by borders, in colours, gold and silver (ff. 1, 31, 70, 103, 107v, 109, 112v, 113, 114, 116v, 117v, 118v, 120, 121, 126v, 130, 174, 186, 195v, 202, 208, 222, 241v, 258v, 260v, 263, 268, 270v, 276, 286v). Numerous initial-word panels decorated with pen-flourishing, in red and blue ink. |
| Dimensions in mm |
390 x 265 (225 x 150) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 302 (+ 2 unfoliated paper and 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 2 unfoliated parchment and 3 paper flyleaves at the end) |
| Collation |
30 quires: i-xii10 (ff. 1-120), xiii10 (ff. 121-129a), xiv-xvi10 (ff. 130-159), xvii14 (ff. 160-173), xviii-xxix10 (ff. 174-293), xxx10-1 (ff. 294-302). |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding. Light brown leather. |
| Provenance |
Samuel ben Mattatiah: inscribed with his name as a witness of the same purchase, 1240 (f. 302v).
4 lists of Hebrew books: a list of books belonging to Jehiel of Arsignano; a list of medical books left behind by Samuel ha-Rofe of Arsignano; list of scientific books left by the same Samuel; list of books of unknown owner (f. 302).
Leon ben Benjamin: sold to Abraham ben Zedekiah, for 50 golden florins, in 1240: inscribed with their names in a contract of sale (f. 302v).
Domenico Irosolomitano, Italian censor (active in the last quarter of the 16th and first quarter of the 17th century): inscribed with his name, undated (f. 301v) ; see William Popper, The Censorship of Hebrew Books (New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1969), p. 61, and appendix § 62-74.
Edward Harley: bought by him through Nathaniel Noel (b. 1681, d. 1753) for £31 10s (price of both volumes), bookseller (see Wright and Wright 1966; Wright 1972); inscription by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley, 18 January 1723/4 (f. 1). The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
Bible in two volumes: Harley 5710 (vol. 1) and Harley 5711 (vol. 2).
Ruling is visible.
Since the style of the illumination points to the end of the 13th century as date of production, the date in the purchase note on f. 302v is probably erroneous, and instead of 5000 AM, that is, 1240 CE, it should be 5100 AM, that is, 1340 CE. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 5710-11.
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. 54.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 227 n. 6.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 254, 461.
Luisa Mortara-Ottolenghi, 'Un gruppo di manoscritti ebraici romani del sec. 13. e 14. e la loro decorazione', in Studi sull'ebraismo italiano : in memoria di Cecil Roth et al., ed. by Elio Toaff (Rome: Barulli, 1974), pp 139-58.
Bezalel Narkiss, Kitvei yad ivriyim metzuyarim (Jerusalem: Keter, 1984), p. 57.
Mendel Metzger, 'Two Centuries (13th-14th) of Hebrew Manuscript Ilumination in Italy', in Die Juden in ihrer Mittelalterlichen Umwelt eds. by Alfred Ebenbauer and Klaus Zatloukal (Vienna: Böhnlau Verlag, 1991), pp. 131-50 (p. 132).
The´re`se 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.
Luisa Mortara-Ottolenghi, 'Scribes, Patrons and Artists of Italian Illuminated Manuscripts in Hebrew' Jewish Art, 19 (1993/1994), 86-97 (pp. 87-88).
Ilana Tahan, Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Script and Image (London, British Library, 2007), p. 31.
Sacred: Books of the Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam (London: British Library, 2007), p. 149 [exhibition catalogue]. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
f. 1
Isaiah |
f. 1
Hybrid and ox |
f. 31
Jeremiah |
| |
f. 70
Ezekiel |
f. 70
Decorated initial-word panel |
f. 103
Hoshea |
| |
f. 109
Amos |
f. 113
Jonah |
f. 114
Michah |
| |
f. 114
Hybrid and man |
f. 116v
Nahum |
f. 116v
Detail of a page: decorated initial-word panel Masa ... |
| |
f. 117v
Habakkuk |
f. 117v
Decorated initial-word panel and hybrids |
f. 120
Haggai |
| |
f. 120
Decorated initial-word panel and hybrids |
f. 121
Zechariah |
f. 126v
Malachi |
| |
f. 126v
Decorated initial-word panel and a dragon |
f. 130
Chronicles |
f. 174
Psalms |
| |
f. 222
Job |
f. 222
Decorated initial-word panel and a fish |
f. 241v
Proverbs |
| |
f. 260
Ecclesiastes |
f. 260
Decorated initial-word panel |
f. 268
Lamentations |
| |
f. 268
Decorated initial-word panel |
f. 270v
Esther |
f. 276
Daniel |
| |
f. 276
Ox |
f. 286v
Ezra-Nehemiah |
f. 286v
Decorated initial-word panel and hybrids |
| |
|
|
|
|
