Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Gaster Hebrew MS 322
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Gaster Hebrew MS 322
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Hebrew
- Aramaic
- Judeo-Arabic
- Title
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- Pentateuch (חומש)
- Targum Onkelos (תרגום אונקלוס)
- Tafsir (תפסיר)
- Rashi's Bible commentary (פרוש רש"י)
- see more
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Saadiah ben Yosef (gaon, 0882-0942)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Sa'adia ben Joseph, 882-942
- Sa'adia Gaon
- סעדיה בן יוסף, אלפיומי, 882-942
- Other form
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- Saʿadyah ben Ywsep (0882-0942 ; gaʾwn)
- Saʿīd ibn Yūsuf al-Fayyūmī
- Saadia Gaon
- Saadiah ben Yosef (Gaon ; 0882-0942)
- סעדיה בן יוסף אלפיומי
- סעדיה בן יוסף, אלפיומי
- Saadiah ben Yosef
- Saʻadia ben Joseph
- Seʿadyah, Gaʾon
- see more
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Salomon ben Isaac (1040-1105)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Rashi, 1040-1105
- Rashi
- שלמה בן יצחק (רש"י), 1040-1105
- Other form
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- Šlomoh ben Yiṣḥaq (1040-1105)
- Salomon ben Isaac (1040-1105)
- Salomon de Troyes
- Rachi
- שלמה בן יצחק (רש"י), 1040-1105
- שלמה בן יצחק
- Salomon en Isaace Troyes
- Salomon ben Isaac
- Shelomoh ben Yitsḥaḳ
- Ben Isaac, Salomão, 1040-1105 > , coment.
- see more
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Ezra ben Joseph Karo
- Role
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- Other
- Original form
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- Ezra the scribe son of Joseph Karo
- Karo, Ezra ben Joseph
- עזרא הסופר בכמוה"ר יוסף קארו
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Moses Gaster (1856-1939)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Moses Gaster
- Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
-
- Description
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- Extent:
173 ff. (173+i) Leaf height: 307 mm, width: 205 mm.
Binding:
Non-original spine in brown leather. Original boards in brown leather with blind-tooling decorations. Remains of leather strips attached to boards for fastening.
Decoration:
Decoration in the margin to mark the beginning of the next parashah on folios 11a, 20a, 28a, 37b, 44a, 50a, 59a, 68a, 75a, 84a, 90a, 104a, 119a, 128a, 133a, 141a, 147b, 154b, 163b, 169a.
Decoration of the beginning of the book of Exodus on folio 96a.
Decoration on back fly-leaf: crescent moon in a shield.
Acquisition:
Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
Layout:
The main text consisting of Bible, Targum and Tafsir is in two columns with between 21 and 27 written lines.
Rashi's Bible commentary is placed in the bottom part of the page and written in two columns of usually between 9 and 12 lines.
Collation:
Catchword in the bottom left corner of the recto and verso of each page relating to the text of Rashi. If there is only one column with Rashi text, such as on folios 18b-19b, 42b-43a, 47b and so forth, an extra catchword relating to the long Bible column is usually added. E.g. folios 74b and 154a do not contain any Rashi text, so that the respective catchwords on 74a / 153b relate to 75a / 154b respectively.
Script:
Yemenite square script of varying sizes according to the importance of the text.
Data Source(s):
Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri and Renate Smithuis.
Subject(s):
Bible. Old Testament--Versions, Jewish; Bible Commentaries
Abstract:
Trilingual Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic (Targum Onkelos) and Judeo-Arabic (Sa'adia Gaon's Tafsir) containing part of the Pentateuch (Gen 1:1-Exod 40:36, with the very last verses of Exodus missing) accompanied by Rashi's commentary and on most pages extensive paratext. The various languages alternate verse by verse. Only the Hebrew and Aramaic passages are vocalised with Tiberian and Babylonian (supralinear) vocalisation respectively. The paratext includes quotations from the Bible commentary of the Ba'al ha-Turim (such as on folio 133a, lines 1-30). The full contents of the paratext remain to be established. The texts continue in Gaster Hebrew MS 323. The box with the manuscript also happens to contain a largely Judeo-Arabic letter drawing the attention of the "communities of Israel" to the plight of four Yemeni communities (bilād).
Foliation:
Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals at the top outer corner of side a of each folio. Folio missing between folios 166 and 167.
Format:
Codex
Material:
Paper
Provenance:
Handwritten label on spine reading in 4 lines in Hebrew: "ברשאית שמות / תרגום ערבי / תימן / 322".
Folio 1a: Handwritten in black ink "No. 2 / M. Gaster / 322" and number 2 added in blue crayon.
Signature of Moses Gaster on folios 1a and 173b in black ink.
Folio 1b: Handwritten in blue crayon: 2.
Folio 122a: Handwritten letters in grey pencil at the bottom of the page in Hebrew.
Folio 129b: Erased handwritten note in ink at the bottom of the page in Hebrew, and some additional letters.
Folio 147a: a few Hebrew words randomly copied in grey pencil at the bottom of the page.
Condition:
Water damage particularly visible on the side of the folios and on folios 80-81. The first two folios have lost the external margin. Folio 1 is attached to a single sheet of white paper and thus only side b is visible, with no text loss. Folios 2, 63, 90-91, 112, 128, 150 and 172-173 have been repaired with modern paper.
Accompanying Material:
Printed text on a paper fragment: a largely Judeo-Arabic letter, with some Ladino, drawing the attention of the "communities of Israel" to the plight of four Yemeni communities (bilād). The letter is written in name of a certain Ezra the scribe son of Joseph Karo in Yemen.
- Extent:
- Rights
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- Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
