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Harley MS 5711

Record Id:

040-003948132

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-003948132

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100124337740.0x000001

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100145089560.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5711

Title:

Bible, vol. 2.

Tana"kh

תנ"ך

Scope & Content:

Language: Hebrew

The second volume of the Bible with masorah magna and parva.

Fols 1r-302v

Tana"kh.

תנ"ך

Note: Second of a Hebrew Bible consisting of Lesser Prophets and Hagiographa. For the first volume, see The British Library, n.d.. Harley MS 5710.

Decoration note: Initial-word panels with penwork decoration, in colours, gold and silver. (Fols 1r, 31r, 70r, 103r, 107v, 109r, 112v, 113r, 114r, 116v, 117v, 118v, 120r, 121r, 126v, 130r, 174r, 186r, 195v, 202r, 208r, 222r, 241v, 258v, 260v, 263r, 268r, 270v, 276r, 286v)

Decoration note: Numerous initial-word panels decorated with pen-flourishing, in red and blue ink.

Decoration note: The style of the illumination points to the end of the 13th century as date of production.

Fols 1r-31r

Isaiah.

Fols 31r-70r

Jeremiah.

Fols 70r-103r

Ezekiel.

Fols 103r-107v

Hosea.

Fols 107v-109r

Joel.

Fols 109r-112v

Amos.

Fols 112v-113r

Obadiah.

Fols 113r-114r

Jonah.

Fols 114r-116v

Micah.

Fols 116v-117v

Nahum.

Fols 117v-118v

Habakuk.

Fols 118v-120r

Zephaniah.

Fols 120r-121r

Haggai.

Fols 121r-126v

Zechariah.

Fols 126v-128v

Malachi.

Fols 128v-129v

List of haftarot, with references to Hebrew foliation of the manuscript.

Fols 130r-174r

Chronicles.

Fols 174r-222r

Psalms.

Fols 222r-241v

Job.

Fols 241v-258v

Proverbs.

Fols 258v-260v

Ruth.

Fols 260v-263r

Song of Songs.

Fols 263r-268r

Ecclesiastes.

Fols 268r-270v

Lamentations.

Fols 270v-276r

Esther.

Fols 276r-286v

Daniel.

Fols 286v-302r

Ezra.

Fols 302r-302v

Inventories and a contract of sale.

The second volume of the Bible with masorah magna and parva

Second of the two uniform volumes of the Hebrew Bible, the other being Harley 5710 (Margoliouth's Catalogue no. 54); consists of Lesser Prophets and Hagiographa

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-003948132", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5711: Bible, vol. 2.Tana'khתנ'ך" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-003948132

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5711 : Bible, vol. 2.Tana"khתנ"ך

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[7885]/040-003948132

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

302 folios

Digitised Content:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100145089560.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Hebrew

Scripts:

Hebrew

Start Date:

1275

End Date:

1299

Date Range:

1275-1299

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Parchment codex of the late 13th century.

302 folios. Dimensions (leaf): 390 x 265 mm. Dimensions (written): 225 x 150 mm.

Format: codex. Material: parchment.

Foliation: 302 folios (+ 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-xvi10, xvii14, xviii-xxix10, xxx10-1.

Layout: Columns: 2. Ruled lines: 30. Written lines: 29. Uniform layout. Visible hard-point ruling. Masorah magna in usually three lines of the upper and five lines of the lower margin. The masoretic rubric registering the number of verses placed at the end of each book, but omitted at the end of Jeremiah and Minor Prophets. A number of verses of the whole Bible at the end of Ezra. The sign at the end of Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Ecclesiastes and Lamentations is יתקא instead of usual יתקק. The book of Psalms preceded by the index (173r). In some books (e.g. Chronicles) the chapters numbered with Hebrew letters (in a later hand). In the Prophets the beginning and the end of the haftarot frequently indicated in the margin.

Hand note: Hebrew.

Number of hands: 3.

Script: Main text in the Ashkenazi square script, punctuated. Masoretic text in Ashkenazi semi-cursive, unpunctuated. Masoretic notes in this volume provided by two hands, the second beingḤizkiyahu ha-Naḳdan (punctator).

Binding: BM in-house, Harleian binding. Spine: 'Biblia Hebraica. Cum Not. Masoret. Vol. II. Brit. Mus. Harley 5711.'

Dimensions [leaf]: 390x265mm

Dimensions [written]: 225x150mm

Vellum codex; second of two uniform volumes (first being Ms Harley 5710)

Collation: 30 quires: i-xii10, xiii10, xiv-xvi10, xvii14, xviii-xxix10, xxx10-1

Initial: Folio 1r, 31r, 70r, 103r, 107v, 109r, 112v, 113r, 114r, 116v, 117v, 118v, 120r, 121r, 126v, 130r, 174r, 186r, 195v, 202r, 208r, 222r, 241v, 258v, 260v, 263r, 268r, 270v, 276r, 286v: Initial-word panels with penwork decoration, in colours, gold and silver

Initial: Numerous initial-word panels decorated with pen-flourishing, in red and blue ink

Initial: Folio 174r: Illuminated headings in addition to the opening illumination

Script (summary): Main text in the Ashkenazi square script, punctuated. Masoretic text in Ashkenazi semi-cursive, unpunctuated. Masoretic notes in this volume provided by two hands, the second being חזקיהו הנקדן

Layout: Visible ruling. Masorah magna occupies usually three lines of the upper and five lines of the lower margin. The masoretic rubric registering the number of verses is placed at the end of each book, but at the end of Jeremiah and Minor Prophets it is omitted. At the end of Ezra there is a number of verses of the whole Bible. The sign at the end of Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Ecclesiastes and Lamentations is יתקא instead of usual יתקק

The book of Psalms is preceded by the index (folio 173r)

In some books (e.g. Chronicles) the chapters are numbered with Hebrew letters (in a later hand)

Foliation: 302 folios (+ 2 unfoliated paper and 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 2 unfoliated parchment and 3 paper flyleaves at the end)

Binding: Post-1600. Harleian, red-dark brown leather

Additions: In the prophetical books the beginning and the end of the haftarot are frequently indicated in the margin

Format: Codex

Material: Parchment

Custodial History:

Provenance: Purchase note on f. 302v, partially concealed by a stain?: "מודה אני ליאון ב'כ'מ'ר' בנימן ז"לה"ה כי מכרתי זה ספר עשרים וארבעה למ'ר אברהם בר צדקי' נ"ע בשכר חמשים פרחים זהב וקבלתי המעות מידו ונדרתי לו לפצותו מכל ... וערער והיה בפר"י שנת חמשת אלפים (...?) לבריאת עולם וכתבתי וחתמתי להיות בידו וביד הבאים מכחו לזכות ולראיי' ל'י'א'ו'ן' ח'י'א'ן ב'כ'מ'ר' בנימן ז"לה"ה: שמואל בכמר מתתיה." The date of the transaction is only partially legible. Domenico Irosolomitano (censor), Italian censor (active 1575-1624), see William POPPER. The Censorship of Hebrew Books ... Introduction by Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger. New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1969. page 61, inscribed with his name, undated (folio 301v).

Place of origin: Italy (Rome or Bologna?).

Domenico Irosolomitano, Italian censor (active in the last quarter of the 16th and first quarter of the 17th century); inscribed with his name, undated (folio 301v)

Edward Harley: bought by him through Nathaniel Noel (b. 1681, d. 1753), a bookseller, for £31 10s (price of the two volumes); inscription by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley, 18 January 1723/4 (folio 1r)

Source of Acquisition:

Acquisition: Edward Harley (owner): bought by him through Nathaniel Noel (bookseller) (b. 1681, d. 1753), bookseller for £31 10s (price of the two volumes); inscription by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley, 18 January 1723/4 (folio 1r). The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (owner) (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (owner) (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, née Cavendish Holles (owner) (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (owner) (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.

Date of origin: Last quarter of the 13th century.

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, née Cavendish 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

Administrative Context:

Date of origin: Last quarter of the 13th century.

Origin: 1275-1299

Italy (Rome or Bologna?)

Finding Aids:

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

For a more detailed catalogue entry see

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

Ilana Tahan. Hebrew Manuscripts : The Power of Script and Image / Ilana Tahan. London: British Library, 2007: p.31

Publications:

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. 54.

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 5710-11.

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, 'SUn gruppo di manoscritti ebraici romani del sec. XIII i XIV e la loro decorazione', Studi sull'ebraismo italiano, in memoria di Cecil Roth. a cura di Elio Toaff (Roma: Barulli, 1974), pp. 139-158, esp. pp. 145 and 153.

Thérèse 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, 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).

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].

BL = British Library shelfmark.

William Popper. 'The Censorship of Hebrew Books ... Introduction by Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger.'New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1969.

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

Credit: The Polonsky Foundation Catalogue of Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts.

Ilana Tahan. Hebrew Manuscripts : The Power of Script and Image / Ilana Tahan. London: British Library, 2007: p.31

C. E. Wright, (Cyril Ernest). Fontes Harleiani : A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts Preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum / Cyril Ernest Wright. London: British Museum, 1972: p254 and p.461

C. E Wright editor, and Ruth C. Wright editor. The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726. London: Bibliographical Society, 1966: p.227

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: p.57

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: p.304

Alfred Ebenbauer, Klaus Zatloukal, and Universität Wien. Geisteswissenschaft Fakultät. Die Juden in ihrer mittelalterlichen Umwelt / Alfred Ebenbauer, Klaus Zatloukal (Hgg.). Wien: Böhlau, 1991: pp.131-150

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: p.149

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Notes:

Credit: The Polonsky Foundation Catalogue of Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts.

Subjects:

Bible Old Testament