MS in Hebrew on vellum, Southern France, late 13th c., 10 ff., 39x24 cm, 2 columns, (27x16 cm), 60 lines in rabbinic cursive, some headings in Hebrew square script.

Provenance: 1. Sotheby's 29.11.1990:56.

MS in Hebrew on vellum, Nablus (Shechem) or Damascus, 13th c.(?), 1 partial scroll of 5 membranes, 44x125 cm, 6 columns, (38x17 cm), 84-91 lines in a small Samaritan book script without vowel signs.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1993, red cloth gilt folding case, by Aquarius.

Provenance: 1. Sotheby's 7.12.1992:34.

Commentary: Textually the Samaritan recension of the Pentateuch can be as close to the original text as the Hebrew recension of the Masoretes. Since the early 17th c. scholars have argued over the superiority of each. The script is an ultimate descendant of the cursive paleo-Hebrew script of the 6th c. BC, predating the earliest square Hebrew script introduced by the priest and scribe Ezra in Jerusalem after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile around 400 BC.

MS in Hebrew and Arabic (text 2) on paper, Nablus, Israel (or Damascus?, Syria), ca. 1339-1340, 18 ff., 19x14 cm, single column, (ca. 18x13 cm), 25 lines in Samaritan book script (text 1) and 22 sections of 10 lines in Arabic Naskhi script (text 2), calendar pages ruled in double red-brown lines.

Binding: England, 1920-1942, brown cloth.

Provenance: 1. Abd-Yahweh ibn Absukuwah ibn Ibrahim Demibani Danaftha (1704); 2. Ibrahim ibn Ya'kub al-Samri (1740); 3. David Solomon Sassoon's Library, Hertfordshire, MS.728 (-1942); 4. David Solomon Sassoon's trustees (1942-1994); 5. Sotheby's 21.6.1994:34 (5th Sassoon sale).

Commentary: Literature: D.S. Sassoon: Ohel Dawid, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London 1932, II, 601.

Exhibited: XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Faculty of Law Library, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

MS in Syriac on vellum, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, 9th c., 4 ff., 25x16 cm, 2 columns, (19x13 cm), 40-43 lines in a Syriac estrangela book script.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1990, green cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai (9th c.- 19th c.); 2. Friedrich Grote (19th c.); 3. Walther Adam, Magdeburg and Goslar, S 9 (1918/30-1964); 4. Carl Wilhelm Adam, Goslar (1964-1987); 5. F. Dörling, Hamburg 11.6.1987:28 ; 6. Wolfgang Görigk, Germany (1989); 7. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.

Commentary: There are 20 MSS from Mt. Sinai in The Schøyen Collection. Besides the monastery's own famous library (4300 MSS), only British Library (8 MSS) and The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (60 MSS, mostly fragments), have comparable holdings. Assfalg: Syrische Handschriften, pp. 211, No. 108, S 9.

MS in Syriac on paper, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, ca. 11th c., 2 ff., 20x14 cm, single column, (17x9 cm), 16 lines in Syriac Sertâ book script, knotwork decorated headpiece, marginal drawings of roundels, interlace patterns, etc. in black and red.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1990, green cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai (11th - 19th c.); 2. Friedrich Grote, Germany (ca. 1900); 3. Walther Adam, Magdeburg and Goslar, S 14 (1918/30-1964); 4. Carl Wilhelm Adam, Goslar (1964-1987); 5. F. Dörling, Hamburg 1.6.1987:31; 6. Wolfgang Görigk, Germany (1989); 7. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.

Commentary: The decorations are among the earliest examples preserved of Melchite art. Melchite is an Eastern sect of Christians who, while adhering to the ceremonies and liturgy of the Greek orthodox church, acknowledge the papal authority. There are 20 MSS from Mt. Sinai in The Schøyen Collection. Besides the monastery's own famous library (4300 MSS), only British Library (8 MSS) and The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (60 MSS, mostly fragments), have comparable holdings. Assfalg: Syrische Handschriften, p. 212, No. 112, S 14.

MS in Hebrew on paper, Syria?, late 12th c., 8 ff., 17x13 cm, single column, (14x11 cm), up to 21 lines in a Syriac rabbinic book script by several scribes.

Binding: England, 1920-1942, in pale brown cloth.

Provenance: 1. The Cairo Genizah, Fustât, Egypt (-ca. 1896); 2. David Solomon Sassoon's Library, Hertfordshire, MS.220 (1920-1942); 3. David Solomon Sassoon's trustees (1942-1994); 4. Sotheby's 21.6.1994:9 (5th Sassoon sale).

Commentary: 1. The Cairo Genizah, Fustât, Egypt (-ca. 1896); 2. David Solomon Sassoon's Library, Hertfordshire, MS.220 (1920-1942); 3. David Solomon Sassoon's trustees (1942-1994); 4. Sotheby'sThe Spanish poet and philosopher Judah Ha'levi died in Egypt in 1141 during an attempt to emigrate to the Holy Land. Second to the caves of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the great Genizah in Cairo is the most significant and evocative source for any fragments of early Hebrew MSS. The Genizah was fully unearthed from 1896. Probably no Egyptian finds, except that of Tutankhamon in 1922, has ever excited the public imagination so much at the time of the discovery. No single source has added so much to our knowledge of early Jewish culture.

Literature: D.S. Sassoon: Ohel Dawid, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London 1932, I, pp. 272-3.

Exhibited: XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Faculty of Law Library, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

MS palimpsest on vellum, Mt. Sinai, Egypt. Text 1 (underlying text): in Christian Palestinian-Aramaic, 6th c., 1 1/2 ff., 20x16 cm, originally ca. 24x18 cm, 2 columns (19x14 cm, originally ca. 21x14 cm), 22 lines (originally ca. 24 lines) in Christian Palestinian-Aramaic uncial. Text 2 (overlying text): in Syriac, ca. 700, 3 ff., 16x10 cm, single column, (15x9 cm), 15 lines in a somewhat shaky Syriac estrangela book script, with similarities to Mt. Sinai Cod. Syr. 30, dated 698. Binding: Barking, Essex, 1990, green cloth gilt folding case, by Aquarius.

Context: Another 35 ff. = MS 35, and 1/2 f. (1 f.) = MS 37 are possibly from the original codex of 6th c. 16 1/2 ff. (33 ff.), also from the same codex, in St. Petersburg, The National Library of Russia (mostly St. Cyril: Catacheses), brought to St. Petersburg from Mt. Sinai in 1859 together with Codex Sinaiticus by Konstantin von Tischendorf. Further MSS from Mt. Sinai see MSS 35, 37, 571-585, 613 and 2530.

Provenance: 1. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai (6th-19th c.); 2. Friedrich Grote, Germany (ca. 1900); 3. Private collection, Berlin (1929); 4. D. MacLaren; 5. Sotheby's 12.4.1954:302; 6. Dr. Otto Fisher, Detroit; 7. H.P. Kraus, "Monumenta Codicum Manuscriptorum" cat. (1974):2; 8. H.P. Kraus cat. 165(1983):28.

Commentary: Underlying text: Gospels of 6th c. in this rare language, closely related to the mother tongue of Christ, are of considerable textual interest. The script is together with the nearly identical one in "Codex Climachi Rescriptus", Mt. Sinai, mid 6th c., considered the finest and earliest specimen of Christian Palestinian-Aramaic uncial extant. The script is also known as Palestinian Syriac book script. Apart from the 3 MSS. in The Schøyen Collection, only the Vatican, St. Petersburg and Mt. Sinai libraries have MSS in this language and script, and even the Mt. Sinai library has only 3, all from 11th c.

Published: Underlying text: Alain Desreumaux: Codex sinaiticus Zosimi rescriptus; Description codicoligique de feuillets araméens melkites des manuscrits Schøyen 35, 36 et 37. In: Histoire du Texte Biblique 3. Lausanne, Éditions du Zèbre, 1997.

MS in Mandaic on clay, Iran/Mesopotamia/Syria/Jordan, 5th-7th c., 1 incantation bowl, 19,0x7,5 cm, 44 lines in a careless cursive Mandaic script in 3 blocks at different angles radiating from the centre.

Commentary: Incantation or magical bowls are also called demon traps. They were placed with the bottom up under the floors and thresholds of the houses in the Near East. The demons were then believed to be trapped inside the bowl with the magical spells written against them.

Published: To be published by Prof. Shaul Shaked in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection.

Exhibited: 1. The Warburg Institute: A Special exhibition on the occasion of the workshop "Officina Magica", London 15 - 17 1999.

MS in Syriac and Middle Persian (text 3) on clay, Iran /Mesopotamia /Syria /Jordan, 5th-7th c., 1 incantation bowl, 17,5x7,5 cm, 5+4 lines in Proto-Manichaean and Pahlavi (text 3) script, drawing of a demon with a scroll or a dragon above.

Commentary: A Christian bowl, which is unusual in the Near East, see also MS 1928/52. Text 2 and 3 contain the same text in Syriac and Middle Persian, which can be significant for deciphering the rare literary Middle Persian language. Incantation or magical bowls are also called demon traps. They were placed with the bottom up under the floors and thresholds of the houses in the Near East. . Texts 2 and 3 give the exact location in the house. The demons were then believed to be trapped inside the bowl with the magical spells written against them.

Published: To be published by Prof. Shaul Shaked in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection.

Exhibited: 1. The Warburg Institute: A Special exhibition on the occasion of the workshop "Officina Magica", London 15 - 17 1999.