Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Gaster Hebrew MS 2020

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Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • Gaster Hebrew MS 2020
Biblissima authority file
Language
  • Hebrew
Title
  • ספר העושר (Book of Riches | Sefer ha-Osher)
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    198 ff. (i+6+198+i) Leaf height: 260 mm, width: 195 mm. Written height: 212 mm, width: 147 mm.
    Binding:

    Red leather binding. Sewn on four raised cords. Paper edges with marbled blue effect.


    Decoration:
    Title page: Pen and ink frame modeled like a painting frame bordering the text.
    Folio 60a: Small pen and ink drawing of a burning torch surrounding the letter samekh [ס].
    Small marginal decoration on top of letter samekh [ס] on folios 66a, 68a, 70a, 71a-72a, etc.
    Folio 135a: Pen and ink schematic drawing of the Menorah (partly cropped) inscribed with the corresponding passages quoted from the text above. Only the base, four of the branches and the seven lamps remain.


    Acquisition:
    Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
    Layout:

    Long line with 37 written lines.


    Collation:

    Horizontal catchwords (often no longer visible) at the bottom left corner of side b of each folio. Catchword on 92b does not seem to match up with the next page.


    Script:
    Karaite semi-cursive 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    Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, description of decorations by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri, Renate Smithuis and Nienke Valk.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):
    Karaites; Bible Commentaries
    Abstract:

    This manuscript contains the Book of Riches (Sefer ha-Osher), the anthology of biblical exegesis compiled by Jacob ben Reuben, a Karaite of the eleventh / twelfth century. The work, which is incomplete at its beginning, is wrongly ascribed to Joseph ben Judah the Karaite on the title page and in the note on folio ia. The title page, written in a different hand and mentioning place and date of copying as Zolochev 1539, was probably added at a later date. One of the anonymous cataloguers of the manuscript read the place-name mentioned there (זולצעוו) as Gozlow (Eupatoria).


    Foliation:

    Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals at the top outer corner of side a of each folio, indicating exclusively the multiples of 5. Between the front fly-leaf and folio 1 there are 6 unnumbered folios, of which the first comprises a title page. Error in numbering between folios 25 and 35 (in fact one folio less), 110 and 120 (6 folios less). Folio numbered 195 is in fact folio 196. Two folios are numbered 200.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Paper. Different type of paper used for fly-leaves. Watermark with Cyrillic letters on blank leaves following title page and a pair of scissors watermark on folio 205.
    Provenance:
    Paper label on spine: the first one reading in Hebrew "ספר העושר / והוא ספר מב"מ" and the second one with numbers 1811 and 2020.
    Front paste-down: Handwritten in ink number 2, and in blue ink numbers 1811 (apparently erased) and 2020.
    Folio ia: Handwritten note reading "2020 / M. Gaster".
    Folio ia: Handwritten note in Hebrew indicating the title and author of the text.
    Folio iia: Handwritten in pencil and green ink "N 1811.
    Handwritten note in Hebrew on small paper strip pasted to page.
    Folio 205a: Inscription in Cyrillic characters.
    Folio 205b: Long note in Hebrew containing information possibly on the type of sources used by the author of the Sefer ha-Osher.


    Condition:

    Stains. First leaves repaired mainly in the margins when the manuscript was rebound. On the first ten folios there is some text loss in the margins, due to water damage and subsequent repair. Extensive repair and text loss on folio 52.


    Additions:
    Title page added by a later hand in Hebrew reading "ספר העושר / שחיבר יוסף בן יהודא הקראי / והוא ביאור פלא על תורה ועל / נביאים ועל כתובים יחדיו הם / משולבים ומובא בו ג"כ פירושי׳ / מתוקים משארי פשטנים כמו / פירושי שלמון בן אלחנן ופירושי / פיומי הספרדי ויפת אבועלי / / ןפירושי יעקב בן יוסף קרקיסיני / ופירושי ענן ראש הגולה ואלימלך הרימלי ופירושי השומרונים / ועקילס הבבלי ור׳ בנימין / האונדי ואבוסרי המלמד / ודונש הזקן ור' אברהם ירקא / מקוסדינא ושארי פרשנים / והוא כתיבת יד ישן נושן / נכתב בעיר זולצעוו / שנת רצ"ט / לפ"ק". The note ascribes the text to Joseph ben Judah the Karaite and mentions the year of creation 299 [= 1539] in the city of Zolochev in Ukraine.Marginal notes and running heads (mostly cropped) in various hands throughout the codex.
    Note(s):
    At least one leaf is missing: the text begins with Genesis 4:3.
    Accompanying Material:
    Note probably by Dr. Robertson reading in English: "Gozlow Eupatoria 1539. 2020 Qara'ite MS. ספר העושר by Joseph ben Yahuda the Qara'ite written in 1539. Commentary on the whole of the Bible. Several pages wanting at the beginning. Starts with the portion מי קץ Mī qēs (Genesis): otherwise complete: the most perfect copy extant. By Steinschneider the MS. is ascribed to a certain Jacob bar Reuben. De Rossi believes the author lived in the year 1098-9. Munk: believed to be of xii. cent.".
    Note on paper fragment reading "Beginning with the comment on / vayehi miqqes, Gen. 4.3".
    Note on a paper taped onto back paste-down reading in English: "The same MS. called also Sefer Ha Osher is found in Leiden Cat. Steinschneider, No. 8, p. 24, Appendix p. 384, and facsimile on plate 2. There the MS is ascribed to a certain Jacob bar Reuben: De Rossi No XII Wörterbuch p. 139 believes the author lived in the year 1098-9. See Munk, Isr. Annales III, 93, cf. ad Tanhum p. 109, etc. believed to be of the twelfth century. See fuller information by S. Poznanski in "J.E." Vol. vii, p. 40, s.v. Jacob ben Reuben".

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