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Kings MS 1

Record Id:
032-003376733
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003376733
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100044309760.0x000001
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
TEI
Reference (shelfmark):
Kings MS 1
Title:
Bible
Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003376733", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Kings MS 1: Bible" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003376733
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003376733
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:
429 folios
Digitised Content:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Kings_MS_1 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Hebrew
Scripts:
Hebrew
Start Date:
1384
End Date:
1385
Date Range:
1384-1385
Calendar:
Hebrew
Era:
CE
Access:
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User Conditions:
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Benjamin Kennicott
King George III
Laurentius D'Arvieux
Ya῾aḳov ben Yosef of Ripoll
Yitsḥaḳ ben Yudah of Tulusa
TEI:

Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project

Kings MS 1

Bible

Contents

Bible (the 'King's Bible'), with vowel-points and accents.

Language(s): Hebrew

ff. 1r-429v
Title: Tana"kh
Title: תנ"ך
Language(s): Hebrew

1 full-page frontispiece, in colours and gold. f. 2v

2 full-page miniatures of Temple implements, in colours and gold.

ff. 3v-4r

f. 2r, 7v, 8r 3 full-page miniatures in colours and gold. Added in the last quarter of the 17th century, after 1683.

Numerous decorated initial-word panels, in colours and gold. Added in the last quarter of the 17th century, after 1683.

Numerous decorated chapter numbers. Added in the last quarter of the 17th century, after 1683.

f. 1r
Title: Latin title-page

The place in which Rabbi Isaac ben Yehudah dedicated the manuscript to a Jerusalem Synagogue is here given as Narbonne.

f. 1v
Title: History of the manuscript in Latin
ff. 6r-7r
Title: Masoretic lists
ff. 8v-31r
Title: Genesis
ff. 31r-51r
Title: Exodus
ff. 51r-65v
Title: Leviticus
ff. 65v-87r
Title: Numbers
ff. 87r-105v
Title: Deuteronomy
ff. 105v-118v
Title: Joshua
ff. 118v-131r
Title: Judges
ff. 131r-163r
Title: Samuel

2Samuel starts on folio 148r.

ff. 163r-196r
Title: Kings

2Kings starts on folio 180r.

ff. 196r-218r
Title: Isaiah
ff. 218r-246r
Title: Jeremiah
ff. 246r-270v
Title: Ezekiel
ff. 270v-273v
Title: Hosea
ff. 273v-275r
Title: Joel
ff. 275r-277v
Title: Amos
ff. 277v-278r
Title: Obadiah
ff. 278r-279r
Title: Jonah
ff. 279r-280v
Title: Micah
ff. 280v-281v
Title: Nahum
ff. 281v-282v
Title: Habakuk
ff. 282v-283v
Title: Zephaniah
ff. 283v-284r
Title: Hagai
ff. 284r-288v
Title: Zechariah
ff. 288v-289v
Title: Malachi
ff. 289v-330r
Title: Psalms
ff. 330r-331v
Title: Ruth
ff. 331v-348v
Title: Job
ff. 348v-363r
Title: Proverbs
ff. 363r-364v
Title: Song of Songs
ff. 364v-367r
Title: Lamentations
ff. 367r-370v
Title: Ecclesiastes
ff. 370v-374v
Title: Esther
ff. 374v-382r
Title: Daniel
ff. 382r-395r
Title: Ezra

Nehemiah starts on folio 387v.

ff. 395r-427r
Title: Chronicles

2Chron. starts on folio 409v.

ff. 427v-429r
Title: Index

References

[Metzger_1982] 304
[Narkiss_1982] 332-336
[Narkiss_1984] 31
[Kogman-Appel_2004] 154-168
[Tahan_2007] 49-51
[BL_2007] 107

Physical Description

Parchment codex of 429 folios; written in Sefardi square script, last quarter of 14th century, punctuated.
Form: codex
Material: parchment
Support:
Extent: 429 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 335 × 270 mm.
Dimensions (written): 210 × 165 mm.
Foliation:

429 folios (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning).

Collation

53 quires: i8-1 (folios 1-7), ii-lii8 (folios 8-423), liii8-1 (folios 424-429 + first back flyleaf).

Hebrew quire numbering.

Layout

Columns:2

Ruled lines: 32

Written lines: 32

Uniform layout. Ruling and pricking are visible.

Flesh and hair side are distinguishable.

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 on front flyleaf (i).

Numerous decorations: 1 full-page frontispiece, 2 full-page miniatures of Temple implements, 3 full-page miniatures in colours and gold. Numerous decorated initial-word panels and chapter numbers.

In the Pentateuch the masorah parva is frequently added in the margins and between the columns. Joshua 1-2 is provided with the masorah magna and parva, as well as Judges 16 to 1Samuel 11 (folios 127v-136r).

Judges, Samuel, Jonah, Habakuk, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes begin a new column, and Deuteronomy, Nahum, Zechariah, Malachi and Lamentations begin a new leaf.

Hand(s)

Sefardi square script, last quarter of 14th century, punctuated. Ya῾aḳov ben Yosef of Ripoll: inscribed with his name in the colophon, Solsona, Kisleṿ 5145 [1384] (folio 427r).

Additions:

Latin account on the history of the manuscript, 16th century (folio 1v).

Binding

Post-1600. Red leather, 18th century, gold tooled with the monogram of George III.

Spine: 'Biblia Hebraica.'

History

Origin: 1384-1385 Spain, N.E. (Catalonia, Solsona)

Provenance and Acquisition

Yitsḥaḳ ben Yudah of Tulusa (Toulouse): inscribed with his name on the frontispiece and in the colophon, Solsona, Kislew 5145 [1384] (folios 2v, 427r).

Laurentius D'Arvieux (b. 1635, d. 1702), French traveller and diplomat, consul for France and Holland at Aleppo: Latin title page added by him (folio 1r); purchased in 1683.

Benjamin Kennicott (b. 1718, d. 1783), English biblical scholar: his translation of the Latin account on folio 1v, 1768 (a paper sheet affixed on front flyleaf (i)v that is called 'flyleaf 1a' in the digital surrogate).

King George III (b. 1738, d. 1820): his stamp on the front and back covers.

Given to the British Museum by King George IV in 1823 as part of the library of King George III.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on Margoliouth, G.: Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1965.

Availability

WARNING: Under current circumstances, not all items are available for consultation and orders can only be placed within Reading Rooms. Please contact Reading Room staff at the British Library for information on availability and for help with placing orders.

Surrogates

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Kings_MS_1 (digital images currently unavailable)

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), 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 metsuyarim (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].

Bibliography

    [Metzger_1982] Thérèse Metzger. 'Jewish Life in the Middle Ages : Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts of the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries / Thérèse and Mendel Metzger.'New York: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1982.
    [Narkiss_1982] NarkissB. 'Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Isles 2 VOLS. (2 COPIES)'. Oxford Oxford UnivPress 1982, 1982.
    [Narkiss_1984] Bezalel Narkiss. 'Kitve-Yad ʿIvriyim Metsuyarim / Me-et Betsalʾel Narḳis ; Mavo Me-et Sesil Rot ; [ʿIvrit, Daliyah Shaḥaḳ ; ʿarikhah, Daliyah Ṭesler].'Mahad. ʿIvrit ḥadashah u-Metuḳenet.. Yerushalayim: Keter, 1984.
    [Kogman-Appel_2004] Katrin Kogman-Appel. 'Jewish Book Art between Islam and Christianity : The Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain / by Katrin Kogman-Appel ; Translated by Judith Davidson.'Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2004.
    [Tahan_2007] Ilana Tahan. 'Hebrew Manuscripts : The Power of Script and Image / Ilana Tahan.'London: British Library, 2007.
    [BL_2007] Sacred (Exhibition) (2007 : British Library). 'Sacred : Books of the Three Faiths : Judaism, Christianity, Islam / Edited by John Reeve ; Essays by Karen Armstrong, Everett Fox, F.E. Peters ; Catalogue Contributions by Colin F. Baker ... [et Al.].'London: British Library, 2007.

Funding of Cataloguing

BL