Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Gaster Hebrew MS 659
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Gaster Hebrew MS 659
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Hebrew
- Title
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- Kiryat Sefer (קרית ספר)
- Book of Emendations of the Torah (תיקון ספר תורה | Tiqqun Sefer Torah)
- Book of Emendations of the Torah (תיקון ספר תורה | Tiqqun Sefer Torah)
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Menahem ben Solomon Meiri (1249-1316)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Meiri, Menahem ben Shelomo, 1249-1316
- Menahem ben Solomon Meiri
- המאירי, מנחם בן שלמה, 1249-1316
- Other form
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- Meiri, Menahem ben Solomon
- Meʾiri, Menaḥem ben Shelomoh ha-
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Raphael ben Joseph (16..-17..?)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Rafael son of Joseph
- Raphael ben Joseph
- רפאל ב"ר יוסף
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Naphtali Herz van Biema (1836-1901)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- יעקב נפתלי הירץ לוי
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Zevi Hirsch Lehren (1784-1853)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Lehren, Zevi Hirsch, 1784-1853
- Zevi Hirsch Lehren
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Naḥman Nathan Coronel (1810-1890)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Coronel, Naḥman Nathan, 1810-1890
- Naḥman Nathan Coronel
- 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
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- Description
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- Extent:
147 ff. (ii+147+ii) Leaf height: 201 mm, width: 140 mm. Written height: 150 mm, width: 99 mm.
Binding:
Light brown leather with blind-tooled flower decoration on spine and around the borders of the boards. Marbled paste-downs and marbled paper edges all round. Blue silk bookmark. Blank interleaved folios added when the manuscript was rebound.
Decoration:
Title page: Gate drawing built up with many small pen strokes. Shaped like a neoclassical temple with a tympan showing a large vase in its centre and two vases on top. Columns with penwork imitating marble and stone, capitals and floral motifs.
Acquisition:
Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
Layout:
Long line with 25 lines. No visible ruling. Frequent rubrication into paragraphs.
Collation:
Catchwords at the bottom left corner of each page.
Script:
Sephardi semi-cursive script.Initial words in Sephardi square script.
Data Source(s):
Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, description of decorations by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri, Renate Smithuis and Nienke Valk.
Subject(s):
Jewish law; Masorah; Torah scrolls; Scribes, Jewish Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Abstract:
This is a halakhic manuscript guiding scribes through the technicalities of writing a copy of the Torah scroll by hand. The first item is Kiryat Sefer by Menahem ben Solomon Meiri. It is incomplete, running up to and including ma'amar 4, helek 3 (folios 1a-41a). While ma’amar 5 is missing, there follow two parts which might as well have been written by Meiri, since they form an organic whole with the preceding text. Item two (folios 42a-53b) offers an alphabetical overview of biblical words with their full or defective spelling. Item three (folios 57a-147b) deals with the issue of the correct spacing (setumot and petuhot) in relation to the text of the entire Pentateuch. The manuscript was copied by Raphael ben Joseph in Egypt in 1673/1674 CE (5433 AM). Moses Gaster thought the scribe might be identified with Shabbetai Zevi's (1626-1676) supporter Raphael Joseph of Aleppo who used to live in Cairo.
Foliation:
Hebrew foliation at the top outer corner of side a of each folio. Title page unnumbered, numbers 55 and 98 are skipped by mistake, two folios numbered 73 by mistake. Quire signature in pencil in Arabic numerals at the bottom left corner of side a of the first folio (modern hand).
Format:
Codex
Material:
Paper with horizontal single chain lines (22.5-23.5 mm apart). Watermark AD on folios 125 and 126, on folio 99 a six-angled star cum crescent and on folio 128 a crown. Folios interleaved with blank modern paper leaves without visible lines or watermarks.
Provenance:
Handwritten label on spine reading in Hebrew "659 / ס' קרית ספר / מנחם מאירי".
Front paste-down: ex libris reading "מספרי / יעקב נפתלי הירץ לוי / VERSTEIGERUNG / N.H. VAN BIEMA. / ADAR I 5665. / J. L. JOACHIMSTHAL, / AMSTERDAM.".
Folio iib: Handwritten in ink "ק / 41".
Title page: sale note of the codex from Zevi Hirsch Lehren to Naḥman Nathan Coronel reading in Hebrew: "קניתי ספר זה בעה"ק ירושלם [...] עבור הרב / הצדיק נשיא הארץ [...] כמהר"ר צבי הירש לעהרן / [...] נחמן נתן קורוניל".
Signature of Moses Gaster on title page (together with numeral 659) and on last page.
Condition:
Title page repaired at spine edge. Front board detached from spine. Stains on the written folios.
Additions:
Marginal notes by different hands:Hand 1 (that of the scribe): folios 4b, 10b, 11b, 12b, 16b, 58b, 61a, 63b, 64a, 65a, 88b, 96a, 97a, 99a, 100b.Hand 2: title page (purchase note of the book), 99a, 103a.
- 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).
