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Hebrew Bible (Spain) | MS 5070 (1)

HEBREW BIBLE (SPAIN)

MS 5070
MS Short Title HEBREW BIBLE (SPAIN)
Text BIBLE: OLD TESTAMENT (THE HEBREW BIBLE: THE LAW AND THE WRITINGS WITHOUT THE PROPHETS) WITH MASORA PARVA AND MAGNA
Description MS in Hebrew on vellum, Spain, 2nd half of 13th c., 264 ff. (-40), 37x35 cm, 3 columns, occasionally 1 or 2 columns, (26x25 cm), 24 lines in a square Spanish Hebrew book script by 1 scribe, occasional penwork decorations; 5 additional ff., autograph notes by Sir Frederick Madden, 1826.
Binding Liverpool, England, 1820-1830, dark blue morocco gilt on wooden boards, central panel with ostrich, crest A of Thomas William Coke, bound by Jones.
Provenance 1. The Holkham Library, MS 2, the 1st to 6th Earls of Leicester, Holkham Hall, Norfolk (ca. 1730-2002); 2. Quaritch, London.
Commentary

The scribe provided a 12-line poem in which he comments on his writing of the text and his methodology. According to Madden's notes the MS has Masoras that he had not found in any other MS. This majestic Bible is part of the tradition of the great format Bibles, initiated in Castilla and Aragon in the 13th c. The unusual layout with 3 columns goes back to the earliest codices of the Hebrew Bible from the Near East from 10th-11th c., which origin from the earlier scroll format, cf. MSS 1630, 1858/3 and the Dead Sea Scrolls MSS 2713 and 4611.

Exhibited  NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.
Place of origin Spain
Dates 2nd half 13c AD