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Detailed record for Oriental 2201
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| Title |
Bible with masorah ('First Ibn Merwas Bible') |
| Origin |
Spain, Central (Castile, Toledo) |
| Date |
1300 |
| Language |
Hebrew, Aramaic |
| Script |
Sephardi square script, punctuated |
| Scribe |
Joseph ben Judah ben Merwas |
| Decoration |
Full-page miniature of the Temple implements, with colours and gold (f. 2). 5 full borders of geometric design, in colours and gold (ff. 34v, 35, 97v, 98, 98v). Masorah in the margins written in microghraphical form. 6 full-page panels of masorah magna in micrographical design (ff. 187, 187v, 188, 188v, 189, 338). Numerous decorated parashah signs, in ink. |
| Dimensions in mm |
240 x 210 (185 x 160) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 368 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning and 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end) |
| Collation |
Originally quires of 6 leaves, but at a later re-binding the quires have been rendered indeterminate. |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. White parchment binding, black tooled. |
| Provenance |
Joseph ben Judah ben Merwas, scribe: inscribed with his name in the colophon, Toledo, Iyyar 5060 [1300] (f. 184).
Erased inscription (f. 4)
Sulaiman ben Samuel (?) ben Hayyim (Margoliouth, 1965)/Joseph (Narkiss, 1982): inscribed with his name as the seller in an Arabic purchase note, 1450 (f. 99v).
Judeo-Arabic note, partially obliterated (f. 368v).
Shalom ben Joseph Hayyim [ .. ] Levi, owner: inscribed with his name in an owner's inscription, 18th century (f. 184).
Musi 'n Salem al-Gamal, owner: inscribed with his name in an owner's inscription, 18th century (f. 184).
Judah 'n Musi: inscribed with his name in an unclear purchase note, undated (f. 186v).
Judah Kamal: inscribed with his name in an owner's inscription, undated (f. 5).
Purchased by the British Museum in 1879. |
| Notes |
f. 1 is cut off most part. Folios 1 and 4 are later additions.
Hebrew foliation from f. 5, starting with 2 until the end of the Pentateuch (f. 99).
In the colophon (f. 184), the name of the patron has been erased. The original date 5060 [1300] has been erased and overwritten as 5006 [1246].
The same scribe copied two other bibles in Toledo: Sassoon Collection (MS 508 dated 1307, MS 1208 dated 1334). |
| 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. 52.
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. 2; II, figs 5-8.
Bezalel Narkiss, Kitvei yad ivriyim metzuyarim (Jerusalem: Keter, 1984), p. 33.
Suzy Sitbon, 'L'Espace les formes dessinees par la lettre, le texte dans les bibles hebraiques espagnoles du XIIIe siecle', in Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Proceedings of the 6th EAJS Congress, Toledo, July 1998. Volume II: Judaism from the Renaissance to Modern Times, ed. By Judith Targarona Borras and Angel Saenz-Badillos, 2 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 163-68 (pp. 164-67).
Katrin Kogman-Appel, Jewish Book Art Between Islam and Christianity: the Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain (Lieden: Brill, 2004), pp. 88-92.
Ilana Tahan, Hebrew Manuscripts: The Power of Script and Image (London, British Library, 2007), p. 128. |
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f. 2
Temple implements |
f. 34v
Full border |
f. 35
Full border |
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f. 97v
Full border |
f. 98
Full border |
f. 187v
Micrography |
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f. 338
Micrography |
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